UPSC Glossary

Short, exam-focused explanations of the terms that come up most often across our 336 lessons, each linked to the lessons where it matters.

5

5G and telecom Science & Technology
5G is the fifth generation of mobile network technology, offering much higher speeds, very low delay and support for huge numbers of connected devices; India launched 5G in October 2022 as part of a telecom sector now governed by the Telecommunications Act, 2023.

A

Aadhaar and JAM Governance
Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number issued by the UIDAI to residents of India on the basis of their biometric and demographic data; JAM refers to the combination of Jan Dhan bank accounts, Aadhaar and mobile phones used to deliver benefits and services directly to people.
Accountability Lesson
The obligation of public officials to answer for their decisions and their results. See the lesson: Transparency and Accountability.
AFSPA Security
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, which gives the armed forces special powers to search, arrest and use force in areas declared "disturbed", along with legal protection from prosecution without central sanction.
The 1891 colonial law that raised the age of consent for sexual intercourse for girls, married or unmarried, from 10 to 12 years, after the death of the child bride Phulmoni and campaigns by reformers such as Behramji Malabari, and which provoked fierce orthodox opposition led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
Agriculture Lesson
Cultivation of crops and rearing of livestock; employs the largest share of India's workforce. See the lesson: Agriculture (module).
Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 Polity
The 1981 central law to prevent, control and reduce air pollution, which extends the powers of pollution control boards to air quality, allows states to declare air pollution control areas and requires consent for industries that emit pollutants.
Air pollution and AQI Lesson
Harmful substances in the air; India's Air Quality Index reports eight pollutants. See the lesson: Air Pollution: Sources, Health Effects and Policy.
Akbar History
Akbar (1542–1605) was the third Mughal emperor, ruling from 1556 to 1605, who expanded and consolidated the empire, built its administrative system and followed a policy of religious accommodation known as sulh-i kul.
AMRUT Economy
A central urban mission launched in June 2015 to give households in about 500 cities basic services such as tap water and sewerage, with green spaces and urban reforms; its second phase, AMRUT 2.0 (2021), aims for universal water supply in all statutory towns and sewerage in the original AMRUT cities.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands Geography
A Union Territory of more than 800 islands, islets and rocks in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, stretching roughly north to south, separated into the Andaman group in the north and the Nicobar group in the south by the Ten Degree Channel; the capital is Sri Vijaya Puram (formerly Port Blair).
Anti-defection law (Tenth Schedule) Polity
The Tenth Schedule, added by the 52nd Amendment in 1985, disqualifies legislators who defect from their party or defy its whip, with the presiding officer deciding disqualification petitions.
Antimicrobial resistance S&T
The ability of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites to survive medicines that once killed them, making infections harder to treat; the WHO lists it among the top global public health threats.
Antyodaya Anna Yojana Schemes
Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), launched in December 2000, targets the poorest of the poor households in the public distribution system, giving them 35 kg of food grains per household per month at highly subsidised prices, now free of cost. It was later absorbed into the National Food Security Act, 2013.
APMC and e-NAM Lesson
State-regulated agricultural markets and the national online trading platform linking them. See the lesson: Agricultural Marketing: APMCs, e-NAM, FPOs and Supply Chains.
Aptitude Lesson
Natural or acquired capacity to do a particular kind of work. See the lesson: Aptitude for Civil Services.
Aravalli range Geography
The Aravalli range is one of the oldest fold mountain systems in the world, running about 690 km from near Delhi south-west through Haryana and Rajasthan to Gujarat. Though heavily eroded, it shapes rainfall, drainage and the advance of the Thar desert, and its highest peak is Guru Shikhar on Mount Abu.
Aristotle Lesson
Greek philosopher (384–322 BCE) of virtue ethics and the golden mean. See the lesson: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle: Virtue Ethics.
Article 105 Polity
The Article granting freedom of speech in Parliament and legal immunity to MPs for anything said or any vote given in the House; since Sita Soren (2024), this immunity does not cover bribery.
Article 110 Polity
The article that defines a Money Bill by listing the matters it may contain "only", makes the Lok Sabha Speaker's decision on whether a Bill is a Money Bill final, and requires the Speaker's certificate to be endorsed on the Bill; the Money Bill page covers the legislative procedure, while this entry focuses on the text and how courts read it.
Article 123 (Ordinances) Lesson
President's power to promulgate ordinances when Parliament is not in session. See the lesson: Powers of the President: Veto, Ordinance and Pardon.
Article 13 Polity
The article that makes any law inconsistent with Fundamental Rights void to the extent of the inconsistency, bars the State from making such laws, and defines "law" broadly; it is the textual basis of judicial review of legislation in India.
Article 136 Polity
The Article that gives the Supreme Court discretionary power to grant special leave to appeal from any judgment, decree, order or sentence of any court or tribunal in India, except military tribunals.
Article 14 Polity
The Fundamental Right that guarantees to every person equality before the law and equal protection of the laws within India; it allows reasonable classification but forbids arbitrary state action.
Article 142 Polity
The provision that empowers the Supreme Court to pass any decree or order necessary for doing "complete justice" in any case before it, and makes such orders enforceable throughout India.
Article 143 Polity
The advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court: the President may ask the Court for its opinion on any question of law or fact of public importance, and the Court may report its opinion after hearing the matter.
Article 15 Polity
The Fundamental Right that bars the State from discriminating against citizens only on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, while permitting special provisions for women, children and backward classes.
Article 16 Polity
The Fundamental Right guaranteeing equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment, while permitting reservations for backward classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in promotions, and for economically weaker sections.
Article 163 Polity
The Article creating a state Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister to aid and advise the Governor, except where the Constitution requires the Governor to act in discretion, and making the Governor's own view on what is discretionary final.
Article 164 Polity
The article on the state Council of Ministers: the Governor appoints the Chief Minister and, on the Chief Minister's advice, other ministers; the ministry is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly, must have between 12 ministers and 15% of the Assembly's strength, and certain states must have a minister for tribal welfare.
Article 169 Polity
The Article that lets Parliament abolish or create a state Legislative Council by ordinary law, after the state Assembly passes a resolution by a majority of its total membership and two-thirds of members present and voting.
Article 17 Polity
The Fundamental Right that abolishes untouchability, forbids its practice in any form, and makes enforcing any disability arising from it an offence punishable by law.
Article 19 Polity
The Fundamental Right that guarantees six freedoms to citizens—speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession—each subject to reasonable restrictions listed in clauses (2) to (6).
Article 21 Lesson
Protection of life and personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. See the lesson: Article 21 and 21A: Life, Personal Liberty and Education.
Article 21A Polity
The Fundamental Right to free and compulsory education for all children aged six to fourteen, added by the 86th Amendment in 2002 and given effect by the Right to Education Act 2009.
Article 22 Polity
The Fundamental Right that protects arrested persons by guaranteeing information about grounds of arrest, the right to consult a lawyer and production before a magistrate within 24 hours, while also permitting preventive detention laws subject to safeguards such as review by an Advisory Board.
Article 226 Polity
The power of every High Court to issue writs and orders, including habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto, to enforce Fundamental Rights and "for any other purpose".
Article 23 Polity
The Fundamental Right that prohibits trafficking in human beings, begar (unpaid compulsory labour) and other forms of forced labour, enforceable against private persons as well as the State, while allowing the State to impose compulsory service for public purposes without discrimination.
Article 24 Polity
The Fundamental Right that prohibits the employment of children below 14 years in any factory, mine or other hazardous employment, given effect by the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, as amended in 2016.
Article 246A Polity
The article inserted by the 101st Amendment of 2016 that gives Parliament and every state legislature simultaneous power to make laws on goods and services tax, while reserving to Parliament the exclusive power over GST on inter-state supply.
Article 249 Polity
The provision that lets Parliament make laws on a State List subject for one year at a time if the Rajya Sabha passes a resolution, by a two-thirds majority of members present and voting, declaring it necessary in the national interest.
Article 253 Polity
The Article allowing Parliament to make laws for the whole or any part of India on any subject, including State List matters, to implement treaties, agreements, conventions or decisions made at international conferences.
Article 262 (Inter-state water disputes) Polity
The constitutional provision that lets Parliament create a mechanism to settle disputes between states over inter-state rivers and to bar courts from hearing such disputes; tribunals under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act 1956 do this work.
Article 263 Polity
An enabling Article that lets the President, by order, create councils to inquire into disputes between states, study subjects of common interest and recommend better coordination of policy; the 1990 Inter-State Council is the best-known body, but several sectoral councils also rest on it.
Article 275 Polity
The article that empowers Parliament to provide grants-in-aid from the Consolidated Fund of India to states in need of assistance, including special grants for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes and the development of Scheduled Areas, usually on Finance Commission recommendations.
Article 279A (GST Council) Economy
The constitutional provision, added by the 101st Amendment in 2016, that creates the Goods and Services Tax Council—a joint forum of the Union and state finance ministers that recommends GST rates, exemptions and rules.
Article 29 Polity
The Fundamental Right that protects any section of citizens with a distinct language, script or culture in conserving it, and bars denial of admission to state-run or state-aided educational institutions on grounds only of religion, race, caste or language.
Article 293 Polity
The article that allows states to borrow within India on the security of their Consolidated Funds, within limits set by state law, and requires a state to obtain the Union's consent for fresh borrowing while it owes the Union money or any loan guaranteed by it.
Article 3 Polity
The constitutional provision that lets Parliament, by ordinary law, form new states, change the area, boundaries or name of any state, after the President refers the bill to the affected state legislature for its views, which are not binding.
Article 30 Polity
The Fundamental Right of religious and linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice, with protection against discrimination in state aid and fair compensation if their property is acquired.
Article 304 Polity
The Article that lets state legislatures tax goods from other states on a non-discriminatory basis and impose reasonable restrictions in the public interest on trade within or with the state, provided the Bill has the President's prior sanction.
Article 311 Polity
The Article protecting civil servants of the Union and states: they cannot be dismissed or removed by an authority below the one that appointed them, and cannot be dismissed, removed or reduced in rank without an inquiry giving a reasonable opportunity to be heard, subject to three exceptions.
Article 312 (All India Services) Polity
The constitutional provision that lets Parliament create All India Services common to the Union and the states, after the Rajya Sabha passes a resolution by a two-thirds majority; the IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service are the existing services.
Article 31C Polity
The provision, inserted in 1971, that shields laws giving effect to the Directive Principles in Article 39(b) and (c) from being struck down for violating Articles 14 or 19; its wider 1976 version was struck down in Minerva Mills, leaving the original form in force.
Article 32 and writs Lesson
Right to move the Supreme Court for enforcement of Fundamental Rights through writs. See the lesson: Constitutional Remedies and Writs (Articles 32–35).
Article 338 Polity
The Article that establishes the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, a constitutional body with a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three members, which investigates safeguards for Scheduled Castes, inquires into complaints and reports to the President.
Article 338A Polity
The Article, inserted by the 89th Amendment of 2003, that creates the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes with a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three members, to protect tribal safeguards, examine complaints and advise on tribal development.
Article 350B Polity
The constitutional provision, added in 1956, that creates a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities, appointed by the President, to investigate matters relating to safeguards for linguistic minorities and report to the President.
Article 356 (President's Rule) Polity
The provision that lets the President take over the government of a state when its constitutional machinery fails, usually on the Governor's report; Parliament must approve it within two months.
Article 359 Polity
The emergency provision that allows the President, during a National Emergency, to suspend the right to move courts for enforcing specified Fundamental Rights, except Articles 20 and 21 since the 44th Amendment of 1978.
Article 361 Polity
The provision that shields the President and Governors from being answerable to any court for acts done in their official capacity, and bars criminal proceedings, arrest and certain civil suits against them during their term of office.
Article 368 Polity
The article in Part XX that gives Parliament the constituent power to amend the Constitution and sets out the procedure, including when state ratification is required; its reach is limited by the basic structure doctrine.
Article 370 Lesson
Temporary provision for Jammu and Kashmir, made inoperative in August 2019. See the lesson: Special Provisions: Article 370, Article 371 and the Fifth and Sixth Schedules.
Article 38 Polity
The opening substantive Directive Principle, which commits the State to securing a social order in which social, economic and political justice informs all institutions of national life, and, since 1978, to minimising inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities.
Article 39 Polity
A Directive Principle that asks the State to secure livelihood for all, distribute the community's material resources for the common good, prevent concentration of wealth, ensure equal pay for equal work, and protect workers and children.
Article 39A Polity
The Directive Principle added in 1976 that requires the State to ensure that the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity, and in particular to provide free legal aid so that no citizen is denied justice because of economic or other disabilities.
Article 40 Polity
A Directive Principle asking the State to organise village panchayats and give them the powers and authority needed to function as units of self-government; it was given constitutional teeth by the 73rd Amendment in 1992.
Article 44 (Uniform Civil Code) Polity
The Directive Principle in Article 44 that asks the State to try to secure a uniform civil code for all citizens, meaning common laws on marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance regardless of religion.
Article 45 Polity
A Directive Principle that, since the 86th Amendment of 2002, asks the State to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete six years of age.
Article 46 Polity
The Directive Principle that requires the State to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections, especially Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.
Article 50 Polity
The Directive Principle that requires the State to take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State, aimed mainly at ending the colonial practice of executive officers acting as magistrates.
Article 72 (Pardoning Power) Polity
The President's power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, or to suspend, remit or commute sentences, for offences against Union laws, court-martial sentences and all death sentences, exercised on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers.
Article 74 Polity
The Article that creates a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President, makes that advice binding, allows one request for reconsideration, and bars courts from inquiring into what advice was given.
Article 75 Polity
The article on the Union Council of Ministers: the President appoints the Prime Minister and, on the Prime Minister's advice, other ministers; the Council is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, and its size is capped at 15% of the Lok Sabha's strength.
Article 78 Polity
The article that sets out the Prime Minister's duties towards the President: to communicate all Cabinet decisions on administration and legislative proposals, to furnish information the President calls for, and to submit for the Council's consideration any matter decided by a single minister if the President so requires.
Artificial intelligence Science & Technology
The field of building computer systems that perform tasks usually needing human intelligence, such as recognising speech and images, translating languages, making predictions and generating text, mostly by learning patterns from large amounts of data.
ASEAN and Act East Lesson
India's engagement with the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations under the Act East Policy. See the lesson: India, Japan, Australia, ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific.
Ashoka Lesson
Mauryan emperor (c. 268–232 BCE) who embraced Buddhism after the Kalinga war and spread Dhamma. See the lesson: Ashoka: Kalinga War, Dhamma, Edicts and Mauryan Art.
Ashoka's Dhamma Lesson
Ashoka's moral code of tolerance, non-violence and welfare, spread through his edicts. See the lesson: Ashoka: Kalinga War, Dhamma, Edicts and Mauryan Art.
Assam Accord IR
The Assam Accord was signed on 15 August 1985 between the Government of India, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad. It ended the six-year Assam Movement against illegal immigration, fixing 25 March 1971 as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting foreigners.
Atal Bhujal Yojana Economy
A central sector scheme for community-led, demand-side management of groundwater in water-stressed blocks of seven states, run by the Ministry of Jal Shakti with World Bank support, in which part of the money reaches states only when they show measurable results such as better data, water security plans and falling depletion.
Atal Pension Yojana Schemes
Atal Pension Yojana (APY), launched in May 2015, is a voluntary, contributory pension scheme for workers, especially in the unorganised sector, that guarantees a monthly pension of 1,000 to 5,000 rupees from age 60, depending on the contribution and the age of joining.
Atomic Energy Act, 1962 Polity
The 1962 central law that gives the Union government control over the development, production and use of atomic energy and radioactive substances, reserves nuclear power generation for government companies, and provides the basis for nuclear safety regulation.
Atomic Energy Commission Polity
The apex policy body for India's nuclear programme, first set up in 1948 under Homi J. Bhabha; its chairman is also Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, which reports directly to the Prime Minister.
Attitude Lesson
A learned tendency to evaluate people, ideas or objects favourably or unfavourably. See the lesson: Attitude: Content, Structure, Function and Influence on Behaviour.
Attorney General of India Polity
The highest law officer of the Government of India, appointed by the President under Article 76 to advise the government on legal matters and to represent it in the Supreme Court.
Aurangzeb Lesson
Mughal emperor (1658–1707) under whom the empire reached its largest extent. See the lesson: The Mughal Empire from Babur to Aurangzeb.
Ayushman Bharat Economy
India's umbrella health programme launched in 2018, with two pillars: a network of upgraded primary care centres (now Ayushman Arogya Mandirs) and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, which gives eligible families cashless hospital cover of up to ₹5 lakh a year.

B

B. R. Ambedkar History
B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) was a jurist, economist and social reformer who led the movement against caste discrimination, chaired the Drafting Committee of the Constitution and served as India's first Law Minister.
Bab-el-Mandeb Geography
Bab-el-Mandeb is the strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, and forming the southern gateway of the Suez Canal route between Asia and Europe.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak History
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920), called Lokmanya, was a leader of the extremist wing of the Congress who declared that "Swaraj is my birthright", used festivals and the press to mobilise people and led the Home Rule League in Maharashtra.
Balance of Payments Economy
A systematic record of all economic transactions between residents of a country and the rest of the world over a period, divided into the current account (trade in goods and services, income and transfers) and the capital or financial account (investment and borrowing flows), with changes in foreign exchange reserves balancing the two.
Basic structure doctrine Lesson
Judicial doctrine (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973) that Parliament cannot amend the Constitution's basic features. See the lesson: Basic Structure Doctrine and Comparison with Other Constitutions.
Beas Geography
A Himalayan river of the Indus system, about 470 km long, that rises at Beas Kund near the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, flows through the Kullu valley and Mandi, is dammed at Pandoh and Pong, and joins the Sutlej at Harike in Punjab, flowing entirely within India.
Belt and Road Initiative IR
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is China's global infrastructure and connectivity programme, launched in 2013, which funds ports, railways, roads, pipelines and power projects across Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond. India opposes it mainly because its flagship China–Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act Polity
The law that prohibits benami transactions, in which property is held in one person's name but paid for or controlled by another, first enacted in 1988 and overhauled in 2016 with confiscation of benami property, adjudication machinery and stricter penalties.
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Economy
A national campaign launched on 22 January 2015 at Panipat, Haryana, to address the declining child sex ratio and promote the survival, protection and education of girls, run jointly by the Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare, and Education.
Bhagat Singh History
Bhagat Singh (1907–1931) was a revolutionary socialist from Punjab and a leader of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, known for the Saunders killing in 1928 and the Central Legislative Assembly bombing in 1929, who was hanged with Rajguru and Sukhdev on 23 March 1931.
Bhagavad Gita (Nishkama karma) Lesson
Part of the Mahabharata that teaches action without attachment to its fruits (nishkama karma). See the lesson: Ancient Indian Ethics: Gita, Buddha, Mahavira and the Upanishads.
Bhakti movement Lesson
Devotional movement in medieval India that stressed personal devotion to God over ritual. See the lesson: Bhakti and Sufi Movements: Saints, Ideas and Impact.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Polity
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, is India's main criminal code. It replaced the Indian Penal Code of 1860 and came into force on 1 July 2024 together with two other new criminal laws.
BIMSTEC IR
BIMSTEC is a regional grouping of seven countries around the Bay of Bengal: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Formed in 1997, it links South and Southeast Asia and has become India's preferred regional platform as SAARC has stalled.
Biodiversity Lesson
The variety of life at genetic, species and ecosystem levels. See the lesson: Biodiversity: Levels, Hotspots, Threats and Global Frameworks.
Biodiversity hotspots Lesson
Regions with very high endemism that have lost most of their original habitat. See the lesson: Biodiversity: Levels, Hotspots, Threats and Global Frameworks.
Biogeochemical cycles Environment
The pathways by which chemical elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and water move between living organisms and the non-living parts of the Earth, the atmosphere, oceans, rocks and soil.
Biological Diversity Act Environment
India's 2002 law implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity; it regulates access to biological resources and traditional knowledge, ensures sharing of benefits with local communities, and creates a three-tier system of biodiversity bodies.
Biosphere reserves Environment
Large areas of land or coastal ecosystems designated to reconcile biodiversity conservation with sustainable use by people, organised in core, buffer and transition zones; India has 18, of which 13 are in UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
Biotechnology and GM crops Lesson
Use of living organisms and genetic engineering, including crops such as Bt cotton. See the lesson: Biotechnology, Health and Emerging Technologies.
Black Money Act Economy
A 2015 law that taxes undisclosed foreign income and assets of Indian residents at 30%, adds a penalty of three times the tax, and makes wilful evasion punishable with up to ten years in prison.
Blockchain Science & Technology
A shared digital ledger in which records are grouped into blocks linked by cryptography and copied across many computers, making past entries very hard to alter without the network's agreement; it underlies cryptocurrencies and many other uses.
Bodo Accord IR
The Bodo Accords are a series of agreements (1993, 2003 and 2020) between the Government of India, the Assam government and Bodo groups to end the Bodo movement for a separate state and armed insurgency. The 2020 accord created the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) with greater powers under the Sixth Schedule.
Border management Lesson
Securing and administering international borders: fencing, forces and infrastructure. See the lesson: Border Management, Organised Crime and Money Laundering.
Brahmaputra Geography
A great trans-Himalayan river that rises near Lake Mansarovar in Tibet, flows east as the Yarlung Tsangpo, swings south around Namcha Barwa into Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang, crosses the Assam valley and joins the Ganga in Bangladesh.
BRICS Lesson
Grouping of major emerging economies that began with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and has since expanded. See the lesson: India, Central Asia and Eurasian Groupings: SCO and BRICS.
Budapest Convention IR
The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime (2001) is the first international treaty on crimes committed through computers and the internet. Drawn up by the Council of Europe, it harmonises national laws, sets investigation powers and supports international cooperation. India is not a party, mainly because it was not involved in drafting it and has concerns about data sovereignty.
Buddhism Lesson
Religion and philosophy founded by Gautama Buddha in the 6th–5th century BCE, centred on the Four Noble Truths. See the lesson: Buddhism: Life of the Buddha, Teachings, Councils and Spread.

C

Cabinet Mission History
The Cabinet Mission was a team of three British cabinet ministers who came to India in March 1946 and proposed, on 16 May 1946, a united Indian Union with a weak centre, groups of provinces and an indirectly elected Constituent Assembly, as a way to transfer power without partition.
CAG Lesson
Constitutional auditor of Union and state accounts (Articles 148–151). See the lesson: UPSC, State PSCs and the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Carbon credits and carbon markets Environment
A carbon credit is a tradable certificate representing the reduction or removal of one tonne of carbon dioxide or its equivalent; carbon markets are systems in which such credits or emission allowances are bought and sold to cut emissions at the lowest cost.
Cash reserve ratio and SLR Economy
The cash reserve ratio (CRR) is the share of a bank's net demand and time liabilities (mainly deposits) that it must keep as cash balances with the Reserve Bank of India, earning no interest. The statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) is the share that it must hold in safe, liquid assets such as government securities, cash and gold. Both are tools of the RBI to manage liquidity and ensure bank safety.
Caste Society
A system of hereditary social groups (jatis), traditionally linked to occupation, marriage within the group (endogamy) and ideas of ritual purity and pollution, which has shaped social hierarchy, opportunity and politics in India and South Asia.
CBI Lesson
Central investigating agency working under the DSPE Act 1946. See the lesson: Lokpal and Lokayuktas, the CVC and the CBI.
Central Information Commission Polity
The quasi-judicial body that decides disputes between citizens and Union public authorities over access to official records, acting as the final appellate forum on transparency below the courts; this entry looks at how it works in practice, what it has decided, and why its performance is debated.
Chalukyas Lesson
Deccan dynasties (Badami, Kalyani, Vengi) known for early temple architecture. See the lesson: South Indian Kingdoms: Pallavas, Chalukyas and the Imperial Cholas.
Chambal Geography
The Chambal is a major tributary of the Yamuna, about 960 km long, rising at Janapav near Mhow in Madhya Pradesh's Vindhyan uplands and flowing north and north-east through Rajasthan and along the Madhya Pradesh–Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh–Uttar Pradesh borders before joining the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh. It is known for its badlands, its cascade of dams and the National Chambal Sanctuary.
Champaran Satyagraha History
The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 in Bihar was Gandhi's first satyagraha in India, taken up on behalf of peasants forced by European planters to grow indigo under the tinkathia system; it led to the Champaran Agrarian Act of 1918.
Charter Acts History
The Charter Acts were laws of the British Parliament that renewed the East India Company's charter at roughly twenty-year intervals (1793, 1813, 1833 and 1853), each time changing its trading rights and the structure of British rule in India.
Chenab Geography
A major Himalayan river of the Indus system, formed by the union of the Chandra and Bhaga streams at Tandi in Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh, which flows through Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistani Punjab and joins the Sutlej at the Panjnad; it is one of the three western rivers allotted mainly to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty.
Cholas Lesson
Tamil dynasty whose imperial phase (9th–13th centuries) was noted for naval power and temple art. See the lesson: South Indian Kingdoms: Pallavas, Chalukyas and the Imperial Cholas.
Chota Nagpur Plateau Geography
A mineral-rich plateau in eastern India covering most of Jharkhand and adjoining parts of Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Bihar, made of ancient rocks, known as the "mineral heartland" of India for its coal, iron ore, mica, bauxite and copper, and home to many Adivasi communities.
CITES Environment
An international agreement, signed in Washington in 1973 and in force from 1975, that regulates international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants so that such trade does not threaten their survival, through a permit system based on three appendices.
Citizen's Charter Governance
A public document in which a government organisation states the services it provides, the standards and time limits citizens can expect, how to seek redress when standards are not met, and what is expected of citizens in return.
Citizenship Lesson
Legal membership of the State; Part II (Articles 5–11) and the Citizenship Act 1955. See the lesson: The Union and its Territory; Citizenship.
Civil Disobedience Movement Lesson
Mass movement launched with the Salt March in 1930 to break colonial laws non-violently. See the lesson: Swarajists to Civil Disobedience: Simon Commission, Purna Swaraj, Salt March and the Round Table Conferences.
Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act Polity
The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010, which creates a no-fault compensation regime for victims of a nuclear accident, makes the plant operator liable up to ₹1,500 crore, and allows the operator to recover costs from suppliers of faulty equipment.
Civil services reform (Mission Karmayogi) Governance
The effort to make India's civil services more capable, accountable and citizen-centric, of which Mission Karmayogi, the National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building launched in 2020, is the flagship, shifting training from rules to roles.
Civil society and NGOs Lesson
Voluntary groups between the state and the market that represent citizens' interests. See the lesson: Pressure Groups, NGOs and Civil Society in Governance.
Climate change Lesson
Long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns, now driven mainly by greenhouse gas emissions. See the lesson: Climate Change (module).
Code of conduct and code of ethics Ethics
A code of ethics states the broad values and principles an organisation or profession aspires to; a code of conduct lays down specific, enforceable rules of behaviour, with penalties for breach.
Common but Differentiated Responsibilities Environment
A principle of international environmental law that all countries share responsibility for protecting the global environment, but their obligations differ according to their historical contribution to the problem and their capacity to act.
Communalism Lesson
Political mobilisation based on religious identity against other communities. See the lesson: Social Empowerment, Communalism, Regionalism and Secularism.
Competition Act, 2002 Polity
The 2002 law that replaced the MRTP Act and set up the Competition Commission of India to prohibit anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position, regulate mergers and acquisitions, and promote competition in markets; it was significantly amended in 2023.
Conflict of interest Ethics
A situation in which a public official's private interests, such as money, relationships or future jobs, could improperly influence, or appear to influence, the performance of official duties.
Confucius Ethics
A Chinese teacher and philosopher (traditionally 551–479 BCE) whose teachings on virtue, family duty, ritual propriety and government by moral example, recorded by his disciples in the Analects, shaped the ethics and statecraft of East Asia for over two thousand years.
Congress Working Committee History
The highest executive body of the Indian National Congress, created in 1920; during the freedom struggle it took key decisions such as suspending Non-Cooperation in 1922 and adopting the Quit India resolution in 1942.
Conscience Lesson
An inner sense of right and wrong that guides moral judgement. See the lesson: Laws, Rules, Conscience and Accountability in Ethical Governance.
Constituent Assembly of India Polity
The body that framed the Constitution of India between December 1946 and November 1949; it was elected indirectly by provincial assemblies under the Cabinet Mission Plan and also served as India's first Parliament.
Constitutional amendments Polity
Formal changes to the text of the Constitution made by Parliament under Article 368, by special majority and, for provisions affecting the federal structure, with ratification by at least half the state legislatures.
Convention on Biological Diversity Environment
A legally binding treaty opened for signature at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit with three objectives: conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
Cooperative federalism Lesson
Model where the Centre and states work together through shared institutions. See the lesson: Inter-State Relations and Cooperative Federalism.
Coral reefs Environment
Underwater structures of calcium carbonate built over thousands of years by colonies of tiny animals called coral polyps, which live in partnership with photosynthetic algae and support some of the richest marine life on Earth.
Corporate governance and CSR Lesson
Rules for how companies are directed and controlled; CSR spending is mandatory for some firms under the Companies Act 2013. See the lesson: Corporate Governance and Business Ethics.
Council of Ministers Lesson
Body of ministers headed by the Prime Minister, collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha (Article 75). See the lesson: Prime Minister, Council of Ministers and the Cabinet.
CPI and WPI Economy
India's two main families of price indices: the Consumer Price Index, which tracks the retail cost of a fixed basket of goods and services bought by households, and the Wholesale Price Index, which tracks prices at the first point of bulk sale of goods; they are built differently and often move apart.
Cripps Mission History
The Cripps Mission was a British attempt in March–April 1942, led by Sir Stafford Cripps, to secure Indian support for the Second World War by offering dominion status after the war and an elected constitution-making body; it was rejected by the Congress, the Muslim League and other groups.
CRISPR and gene editing Science & Technology
Gene editing is the precise alteration of an organism's DNA at chosen sites; CRISPR-Cas9, adapted from a bacterial immune system, is the most widely used tool, guiding an enzyme to cut DNA so that genes can be disabled, corrected or changed.
Crop insurance (PMFBY) Schemes
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), launched in 2016, is India's main crop insurance scheme. Farmers pay a small premium, and the Centre and states pay the rest, to cover crop losses from natural risks such as drought, flood, pests and unseasonal rain.
Cropping Seasons (Kharif, Rabi, Zaid) Geography
India's three main agricultural seasons, set by the monsoon and temperature cycle: kharif crops sown with the south-west monsoon (June–July) and harvested in autumn, rabi crops sown after the monsoon (October–November) and harvested in spring, and the short zaid season between rabi and kharif in summer.
Cross-border terrorism Lesson
Terrorist violence planned or supported from across an international border. See the lesson: Terrorism and Insurgency: J&K and the Northeast.
Current Account Deficit Economy
The gap that arises when a country's spending on imports of goods and services, plus income and transfers paid abroad, exceeds what it earns from exports, income and transfers received; it must be covered by net capital inflows or by drawing on foreign exchange reserves.
CVC Lesson
Apex integrity body for central government, statutory since the CVC Act 2003. See the lesson: Lokpal and Lokayuktas, the CVC and the CBI.
Cyber security Lesson
Protection of computer systems, networks and data from attack. See the lesson: Cyber Security: Threats, Institutions and Policy.
Cyclones Lesson
Intense low-pressure systems over warm oceans with strong rotating winds and heavy rain. See the lesson: Tropical Cyclones and Other Atmospheric Hazards.

D

Dadabhai Naoroji History
Dadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917) was a Parsi scholar, businessman and early nationalist who developed the "drain of wealth" theory, presided over the Indian National Congress three times and became the first Indian elected to the British House of Commons.
Damodar Geography
The Damodar is a river of eastern India, about 590 km long, that rises in the Chota Nagpur plateau in Jharkhand and flows east into West Bengal, joining the Hooghly south of Kolkata. Once called the "Sorrow of Bengal" for its floods, it was harnessed by the Damodar Valley Corporation, India's first multipurpose river valley project.
Deccan Plateau Geography
The large triangular tableland that forms most of peninsular India south of the Satpura and Vindhya ranges, bounded by the Western Ghats on the west and the Eastern Ghats on the east, tilting gently eastwards so that most of its rivers drain into the Bay of Bengal.
Deep Ocean Mission Science & Technology
A Union government mission, approved in 2021 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, to develop technologies to explore the deep sea, including a crewed submersible to reach 6,000 metres, and to study ocean resources, biodiversity and climate.
Delhi Sultanate Lesson
Series of five dynasties that ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526. See the lesson: The Delhi Sultanate: Five Dynasties and their Rulers (1206–1526).
Delimitation Polity
The process of fixing the number and boundaries of Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies, carried out by an independent Delimitation Commission after a census.
Demographic dividend Economy
The demographic dividend is the boost to economic growth that a country can gain when the share of its working-age population (usually 15–64 years) rises relative to dependants, provided those workers are healthy, skilled and productively employed.
Diaspora Lesson
People of Indian origin and Indian citizens living abroad. See the lesson: Indian Diaspora and the Effect of Other Countries' Policies on India's Interests.
Digital India Schemes
Digital India is an umbrella programme launched on 1 July 2015 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy, built on three visions: digital infrastructure as a utility for every citizen, governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens.
Digital public infrastructure Governance
Shared, interoperable digital systems, such as identity, payments and data-sharing platforms, built for public benefit on open standards, on which governments and private firms can build services at population scale.
Direct Benefit Transfer Governance
A government reform launched on 1 January 2013 to transfer subsidies and benefits directly into the bank or postal accounts of beneficiaries, mostly linked to Aadhaar, instead of routing them through intermediaries or in-kind delivery.
Directive Principles Lesson
Non-justiciable principles in Part IV (Articles 36–51) that guide the State in making laws and policy. See the lesson: Directive Principles of State Policy (Articles 36–51).
Disaster management Lesson
Planning and action to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. See the lesson: Disaster Management (module).
Disguised unemployment Economy
Disguised unemployment exists when more people are engaged in a job than are actually needed, so that the marginal productivity of the extra workers is zero or close to zero: removing them would not reduce total output. It is most common in family farms in developing countries such as India.
Doctrine of Lapse History
The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy, applied most widely by Lord Dalhousie (1848–56), under which a dependent Indian state whose ruler died without a natural male heir would "lapse" to the East India Company, with the right of adoption for succession denied.
Domestic Violence Act Society
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, a civil law that gives women quick remedies such as protection orders, residence rights, monetary relief and custody against abuse by a husband, partner or relatives in a shared household.
Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 Polity
The 1961 central law that makes giving, taking or demanding dowry an offence, voids dowry agreements, and requires any dowry received to be transferred to the woman, backed by later criminal provisions on dowry deaths and cruelty.
DPDP Act 2023 Governance
India's first comprehensive law on protecting digital personal data, passed in August 2023, which sets rules for how organisations collect and use personal data, gives individuals rights, and creates the Data Protection Board of India.
Drafting Committee Polity
The seven-member committee of the Constituent Assembly, chaired by B. R. Ambedkar and set up on 29 August 1947, that prepared the Draft Constitution of India, published in February 1948, and steered it through the Assembly's clause-by-clause debates.
Drain of Wealth History
The nationalist argument, developed from the 1860s by Dadabhai Naoroji, R. C. Dutt and others, that British rule took a large share of India's annual output to Britain through unrequited transfers, such as home charges, official salaries and pensions, interest and profits, leaving India without the savings needed to grow.
DSPE Act Polity
The Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946, the law under which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) functions; it lets the CBI investigate notified offences and requires state consent before it can act in a state.

E

e-Governance Lesson
Use of digital technology to deliver government services and information. See the lesson: Governance (module).
Earthquakes Lesson
Sudden shaking of the ground caused by the release of energy along faults. See the lesson: Earthquakes and Tsunamis.
Eastern Ghats Geography
A broken chain of old, eroded hills running roughly parallel to India's east coast from Odisha through Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu, cut into separate blocks by the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri rivers on their way to the Bay of Bengal.
Eco-sensitive zones Environment
Areas notified by the Union environment ministry around protected areas, and in some other fragile landscapes, under the Environment Protection Act 1986, where harmful activities are prohibited or regulated so that they act as shock absorbers for the protected area.
Ecosystem Lesson
A community of living organisms interacting with each other and their physical environment. See the lesson: Ecosystems: Structure, Energy Flow and Nutrient Cycles.
El Niño and La Niña Geography
El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cold phases of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a recurring pattern of ocean temperature and air pressure changes in the tropical Pacific that affects weather around the world, including the Indian monsoon.
Election Commission Lesson
Constitutional body (Article 324) that conducts elections to Parliament, state legislatures and the offices of President and Vice-President. See the lesson: The Election Commission of India.
Emergency provisions Lesson
Part XVIII powers for national, state (Article 356) and financial emergencies. See the lesson: Emergency Provisions: Articles 352, 356 and 360.
Emotional intelligence Lesson
The ability to recognise and manage one's own emotions and those of others. See the lesson: Emotional Intelligence: Concepts and Models.
Empathy and compassion Ethics
Empathy is the ability to understand and share another person's feelings and perspective; compassion goes a step further, adding the motivation to act to relieve that person's suffering.
Ends and means Ethics
The ethical question of whether a good goal (end) can justify the use of morally doubtful methods (means), or whether the means themselves must be ethical regardless of the outcome they serve.
Environment Protection Act 1986 Environment
An umbrella law passed by Parliament in 1986 that gives the Central Government wide powers to protect and improve the environment, set standards, regulate industries and hazardous substances, and issue binding directions.
Environmental Impact Assessment Lesson
Study of a project's likely environmental effects before approval. See the lesson: Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Governance.
Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 Polity
A short colonial-era law of 1897, passed to fight bubonic plague in Bombay, that empowers governments to take special measures and issue regulations to prevent the spread of dangerous epidemic diseases; it was amended in 2020 to protect health workers.
Essential Commodities Act Economy
A 1955 law that lets the Union government control the production, supply, distribution, trade and prices of commodities it declares essential, for example by imposing stock limits to curb hoarding and price rises.
Estimates Committee Polity
The largest financial committee of Parliament, with 30 Lok Sabha members, which examines the budget estimates of ministries and suggests economies, improvements in organisation and alternative policies to achieve efficiency.
Ethical dilemma Ethics
A situation in which a person must choose between two or more options that each involve an important moral value or duty, so that honouring one means compromising another, and no choice is free of moral cost.
Exchange rate Economy
The exchange rate is the price of one currency in terms of another, such as the number of rupees needed to buy one US dollar. It affects the prices of imports and exports, inflation, foreign debt costs and the competitiveness of a country's products.

F

Federalism Polity
A system of government in which power is constitutionally divided between a central government and regional governments, each supreme in its own sphere. This hub page connects the many forms of Indian federalism; see the linked lessons for depth.
Fifth and Sixth Schedules Polity
Two schedules under Article 244 that provide special administration for tribal regions: the Fifth for Scheduled Areas in most states, and the Sixth for autonomous tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Finance Commission Polity
A quasi-judicial body that the President must set up under Article 280 at least once every five years to recommend how central tax revenue is shared with the states and how grants-in-aid are given.
Fiscal deficit Lesson
Total government expenditure minus total receipts excluding borrowing. See the lesson: The Union Budget, Fiscal Policy and the FRBM Framework.
Floods and Droughts Geography
The two opposite extremes of India's monsoon-dependent water cycle: floods, when rivers or rainfall overwhelm land and drainage, and droughts, when rainfall or water availability falls well below normal for long enough to harm crops, people and ecosystems; many districts face both within a few years.
Food chain and trophic levels Environment
A food chain is the sequence in which energy and nutrients pass from producers to successive consumers in an ecosystem; each step in the chain is a trophic level, and interlinked chains form a food web.
Food Corporation of India Economy
The central government agency, set up in 1965 under the Food Corporations Act 1964, that buys foodgrains from farmers at minimum support prices, stores them as buffer stocks, moves them across the country and releases them for the Public Distribution System and open-market sales.
Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 Polity
The 2006 law that consolidated India's multiple food laws into a single framework, created the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to set science-based standards, and regulates the manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import of food through licensing, registration and enforcement.
Foreign Direct Investment Economy
Investment by a non-resident that gives a lasting interest and a meaningful say in the management of an Indian enterprise, conventionally treated as a holding of 10% or more of a listed company's equity, as distinct from short-term portfolio flows.
Foreign exchange reserves Economy
Foreign exchange reserves are external assets held by a country's central bank, such as foreign currencies, gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and the reserve position in the IMF, which can be used to pay for imports, service external debt and stabilise the currency during shocks.
Forest Conservation Act Environment
A central law of 1980 that requires the prior approval of the Central Government before forest land can be used for non-forest purposes or dereserved, renamed the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam by a 2023 amendment.
Forest Rights Act Society
A 2006 law that recognises and vests forest rights, including land, use of forest produce and community management, in Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have lived in and depended on forests for generations.
Fugitive Economic Offenders Act Economy
A 2018 law that allows a special court to declare a person who has fled India to avoid prosecution for economic offences worth ₹100 crore or more a "fugitive economic offender" and to confiscate their property.
Fundamental Duties Polity
Eleven moral and civic obligations of citizens listed in Article 51A (Part IVA), added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976; they are not enforceable by courts but guide interpretation and legislation.
Fundamental Rights Lesson
Justiciable rights in Part III (Articles 12–35) of the Constitution, enforceable in the courts. See the lesson: Fundamental Rights (module).

G

G20 IR
The G20 (Group of Twenty) is an informal forum of 19 major economies, the European Union and, since 2023, the African Union, which together account for most of world GDP, trade and population; it coordinates policy on the global economy, finance and development through an annual summit under a rotating presidency.
Gandhara and Mathura art Culture
Gandhara and Mathura were the two great schools of sculpture that flourished in north-western and northern India around the beginning of the Common Era, especially under the Kushanas, and produced some of the earliest images of the Buddha in human form.
Gandhian ethics Lesson
Gandhi's moral ideas: truth, non-violence, trusteeship, sarvodaya and the purity of means. See the lesson: Mahatma Gandhi: Truth, Non-violence and Trusteeship.
Gandhi–Irwin Pact History
The agreement of 5 March 1931 between Mahatma Gandhi and the Viceroy Lord Irwin, under which the Congress suspended the Civil Disobedience Movement and agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference in return for the release of political prisoners and other concessions.
Ganga Geography
India's largest river system, formed at Devprayag where the Bhagirathi (from Gaumukh at the Gangotri glacier) meets the Alaknanda, which flows about 2,500 km across the northern plains to the Bay of Bengal, ending in the world's largest delta shared with the Brahmaputra.
GDP Economy
The market value of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a given period. This hub page shows where GDP turns up across the syllabus as a yardstick; the measurement methods are covered in the linked lesson.
General Service Enlistment Act, 1856 History
The 1856 order under Governor-General Lord Canning requiring all new recruits to the Bengal Army to serve wherever sent, including overseas, which upper-caste sepoys saw as a threat to caste rules on crossing the sea and which became a cause of the Revolt of 1857.
Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee Polity
The statutory committee under the Union Environment Ministry that appraises proposals for large-scale use and environmental release of genetically engineered organisms and products, including field trials and commercial approval of GM crops, under the 1989 Rules made under the Environment (Protection) Act.
Gini coefficient Economy
The Gini coefficient is a summary measure of inequality in the distribution of income, consumption or wealth, ranging from 0 (perfect equality, everyone has the same) to 1 (perfect inequality, one person has everything). It is often expressed as a percentage or index from 0 to 100.
Glacial lake outburst flood Environment
A sudden, often catastrophic release of water from a lake formed at the front, side or surface of a glacier, when the natural dam of ice or loose glacial debris holding it fails.
Globalisation Lesson
Growing integration of economies and societies through trade, capital, technology and people. See the lesson: Women, Urbanisation and Globalisation.
Godavari Geography
The longest river of peninsular India, about 1,465 km long, rising near Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district of Maharashtra and flowing east across the Deccan to enter the Bay of Bengal through a delta in Andhra Pradesh; it is often called the Dakshin Ganga.
Good governance Governance
The exercise of public authority in a way that is participatory, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective, equitable and follows the rule of law, so that public resources are managed for the welfare of all.
Goods and Services Tax Economy
A comprehensive, destination-based indirect tax on the supply of goods and services, introduced in India on 1 July 2017, that replaced most central and state levies with a single system in which tax paid on inputs is credited against tax on outputs.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale History
Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866–1915) was a leading moderate of the Indian National Congress, a reformer and legislator who founded the Servants of India Society in 1905 and was regarded by Gandhi as his political guru.
Government of India Act, 1919 History
The Government of India Act, 1919, based on the Montagu–Chelmsford Report, introduced dyarchy in the provinces, a bicameral central legislature and wider franchise, as a first step towards "responsible government" promised in the Montagu Declaration of August 1917.
Government of India Act, 1935 History
The Government of India Act, 1935 was the longest constitutional law passed by the British Parliament for India; it proposed an All-India Federation, introduced provincial autonomy and became a major source for the structure of the Indian Constitution.
Governor Lesson
Constitutional head of a state, appointed by the President (Article 155) and holding office during the President's pleasure. See the lesson: The Governor: Appointment, Powers and Discretion.
Gram Sabha Polity
The assembly of all registered voters of a village or group of villages within a gram panchayat area; it is the foundation of direct democracy under the 73rd Amendment.
Green India Mission Schemes
The National Mission for a Green India (Green India Mission, GIM) is one of the eight missions under India's National Action Plan on Climate Change (2008). Approved for implementation in 2014, it aims to protect, restore and enhance India's forest cover and respond to climate change through afforestation and ecosystem restoration, with community participation.
Green Revolution Economy
The rapid rise in Indian cereal output from the mid-1960s, driven by high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice combined with irrigation, chemical fertilisers, assured prices and institutional credit, which ended India's dependence on food imports.
Greenhouse effect Environment
The natural process by which certain gases in the atmosphere absorb heat radiated from the Earth's surface and re-emit it, keeping the planet far warmer than it would otherwise be; human emissions are strengthening it and causing global warming.
Gross Value Added Economy
The value of all goods and services produced in an economy or a sector minus the value of inputs used up in producing them; it measures output from the supply side, and GDP equals GVA at basic prices plus product taxes minus product subsidies.
GST Council Economy
The joint Union–state forum that runs India's Goods and Services Tax in practice: it decides which rate each item falls in, which supplies are exempt, how small businesses are treated and how the tax machinery works, through a process of officer-level committees, ministerial groups and meetings chaired by the Union Finance Minister.
Guptas Lesson
Dynasty that ruled much of north India in the 4th–6th centuries CE. See the lesson: The Gupta Age and Harsha: Polity, Society, Science and Culture.

H

Harappan Civilisation Lesson
Bronze Age urban civilisation of the north-west (c. 2600–1900 BCE, mature phase). See the lesson: Harappan Civilisation: Sites, Town Planning and Phases.
Harsha History
Harsha, or Harshavardhana (ruled c. 606–647 CE), was a ruler of the Pushyabhuti dynasty who built a large kingdom in north India with Kannauj as its capital, patronised Buddhism and learning, and is known from Banabhatta's Harshacharita and the account of the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang.
High Courts Lesson
The highest courts of the states (Articles 214–231), with writ jurisdiction under Article 226. See the lesson: High Courts and Subordinate Courts.
Himalayas Geography
The young fold-mountain system that arcs about 2,400 km along India's northern frontier from the Indus gorge to the Brahmaputra bend. This hub page links the range's role in climate, rivers, hazards, ecology and security; physiography in depth is in the linked lesson.
Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856 History
The colonial law of 1856, passed after a campaign led by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, that legalised the remarriage of Hindu widows and declared children of such marriages legitimate, though the widow lost rights in her deceased husband's property.
Home Rule Movement History
The Home Rule Movement (1916–18) was a campaign for self-government within the British Empire, led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant through two separate Home Rule Leagues, which revived nationalist politics during the First World War.
Hota Committee Polity
The 2004 Committee on Civil Services Reforms chaired by former UPSC Chairman P. C. Hota, which recommended fixed tenure, performance-based appraisal, mid-career training, lateral entry, e-governance and a code of ethics for civil servants.
Human Development Index Lesson
UNDP index combining life expectancy, education and per-capita income (GNI). See the lesson: Growth versus Development: HDI, Inequality and Sustainable Development.
Hunter Committee History
The Disorders Inquiry Committee chaired by Lord William Hunter, set up in October 1919 to investigate the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and disturbances in Punjab, Delhi and Bombay; its 1920 report criticised General Dyer mildly, and the Congress rejected it in favour of its own inquiry. (Not to be confused with the Hunter Education Commission of 1882.)

I

ICDS and Anganwadi Economy
India's main programme for early childhood care, nutrition and pre-school education, started on 2 October 1975, delivered through village and neighbourhood Anganwadi centres run by an Anganwadi worker and helper for children under six, pregnant women and nursing mothers.
Immanuel Kant Lesson
German philosopher (1724–1804) of duty-based ethics and the categorical imperative. See the lesson: Kant and Deontology: Duty, Dignity and the Categorical Imperative.
Impartiality and non-partisanship Lesson
Acting without bias towards any person or group, and without party-political loyalty in public service. See the lesson: Integrity, Impartiality, Non-partisanship and Objectivity.
INA and Subhas Chandra Bose Lesson
The Azad Hind Fauj led by Subhas Chandra Bose against British rule in 1943–45. See the lesson: Revolutionary Nationalism: From Anushilan Samiti to Bhagat Singh and the INA.
Income-tax Act Economy
India's main law on taxing incomes of individuals and companies; the Income-tax Act 1961 governed direct taxes for over six decades and has been replaced by a simplified Income-tax Act passed in 2025.
IndiaAI Mission Schemes
The IndiaAI Mission, approved by the Union Cabinet in March 2024 with an outlay of about 10,372 crore rupees over five years, aims to build India's artificial intelligence ecosystem by providing affordable computing capacity, datasets, foundation models, skills, start-up financing and tools for safe and trusted AI.
Indian Councils Acts History
Three British laws (1861, 1892 and 1909) that gradually brought Indians into the legislative councils of British India, ending with the Morley–Minto Reforms, which introduced elections and separate electorates for Muslims.
Indian Independence Act, 1947 History
The Indian Independence Act, 1947 was the British law that created the two independent dominions of India and Pakistan from 15 August 1947, ended British paramountcy over the princely states and gave the Constituent Assemblies full sovereign power.
Indian Ocean Dipole Geography
The Indian Ocean Dipole is a see-saw in sea surface temperatures between the western Indian Ocean near Africa and the eastern Indian Ocean near Indonesia; in its positive phase the west is warmer than usual, which tends to support India's monsoon, while a negative phase tends to weaken it.
Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 Polity
The colonial law of 1885 that gave the government exclusive privilege over telegraphs and, by extension, telephones and mobile networks, along with powers of interception and licensing; it governed Indian telecom for nearly 140 years until it was repealed by the Telecommunications Act, 2023. This entry covers its history and legacy, while the Telecommunications Act page covers the current law.
Indo-Pacific IR
The Indo-Pacific is the strategic idea that the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific form a single, connected region for trade, security and diplomacy. India's vision, set out in 2018, calls for a free, open and inclusive region with ASEAN at its centre.
Indus Waters Treaty IR
The Indus Waters Treaty (1960) between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank, divides the six rivers of the Indus system: India gets the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) and Pakistan the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab), with limited Indian rights on the latter. India placed the treaty "in abeyance" in April 2025.
Inflation Economy
A sustained rise in the general level of prices in an economy, which reduces the purchasing power of money; in India it is measured mainly by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which the RBI targets at 4% ±2%.
Informal Sector Economy
The part of the economy made up of small, unregistered enterprises and of workers without written contracts, social security or legal protection, which employs the large majority of India's workforce and produces a significant share of its output.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Economy
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) is India's unified law for resolving the insolvency of companies, partnership firms and individuals in a time-bound manner, by either reviving a failing business through a resolution plan or liquidating it to repay creditors.
Integration of princely states Lesson
The process (1947–49) by which over 500 princely states joined the Indian Union. See the lesson: Integration of Princely States.
Integrity Ethics
The quality of being consistently guided by sound moral principles, so that one's values, words and actions match, in private and in public, even when no one is watching and when it is costly to do so.
Intellectual property rights Economy
Legal rights that give creators and inventors exclusive control, for a limited time, over the use of their creations, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, brands, designs and goods linked to a place of origin.
Inter-State Council Polity
A constitutional forum under Article 263, set up in 1990 on the Sarkaria Commission's advice, where the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and Union ministers discuss Centre–state and inter-state issues.
International Monetary Fund IR
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organisation, created at Bretton Woods in 1944, that monitors the global monetary system, lends to member countries facing balance-of-payments problems and provides policy advice and technical assistance; it is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Invasive species Environment
Species introduced, deliberately or accidentally, outside their natural range that establish themselves, spread rapidly and harm native biodiversity, ecosystems, the economy or human health.
Iqta system History
The iqta system was the method of revenue assignment used by the Delhi Sultanate, under which the Sultan granted officers the right to collect land revenue from a territory (the iqta) in return for maintaining troops and administering the area; the holder was called the iqtadar or muqti.
Irrigation Lesson
Artificial supply of water to crops through canals, wells, tanks and micro-irrigation. See the lesson: Irrigation: Systems, Problems and Water-Use Efficiency.
ISRO Science
India's national space agency, founded in 1969 and headquartered in Bengaluru, which builds and launches satellites and rockets, conducts planetary and solar missions, and is developing India's human spaceflight programme.
IT Act 2000 Science & Technology
India's primary law on electronic transactions and cyber crime, giving legal recognition to electronic records and digital signatures, defining cyber offences and setting rules for intermediaries such as social media platforms.
ITCZ Geography
The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone is the belt of low pressure near the equator where the north-east and south-east trade winds meet, air rises and heavy rain falls; it shifts north and south with the seasons, and its northward move over South Asia in summer is closely tied to the Indian monsoon.
IUCN Red List Environment
The world's most comprehensive inventory of the global extinction risk of species, maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which places species into categories from Least Concern to Extinct using standard scientific criteria.

J

Jainism Lesson
Religion associated with Mahavira (6th century BCE) that stresses non-violence (ahimsa) and the three jewels. See the lesson: Jainism, Ajivikas and Other Heterodox Schools.
Jal Jeevan Mission Schemes
The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), launched on 15 August 2019, aims to provide every rural household in India with a functional household tap connection supplying safe drinking water of prescribed quality, at least 55 litres per person per day, on a regular and long-term basis.
Jal Shakti Abhiyan Schemes
Jal Shakti Abhiyan is a nationwide water conservation campaign, first launched in July 2019 in water-stressed districts and repeated since 2021 as "Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain", which mobilises governments and communities to harvest rainwater, renovate water bodies, recharge groundwater and plant trees, mainly before and during the monsoon.
Jallianwala Bagh massacre History
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13 April 1919 in Amritsar, when troops under Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer fired without warning on an unarmed crowd in an enclosed garden, killing hundreds of people and turning Indian opinion decisively against British rule.
Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 Polity
The 2023 law that amended 183 provisions in 42 central Acts administered by 19 ministries, replacing imprisonment for many minor and technical offences with monetary penalties, aimed at improving ease of living and doing business; a second Jan Vishwas Bill was introduced in 2025.
Jawaharlal Nehru History
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) was a leader of the Indian National Congress, a close associate of Gandhi and the first Prime Minister of India from 1947 until his death in 1964, best known for planned development, secularism and non-alignment.
Jet streams Geography
Jet streams are narrow bands of very fast winds, often over 100 km per hour, blowing high in the upper troposphere at around 9–14 km altitude; over India, the subtropical westerly jet in winter and the tropical easterly jet in summer strongly influence weather and the monsoon.
Jhelum Geography
The Jhelum, known in ancient texts as the Vitasta, rises at Verinag in the south of the Kashmir valley, flows north-west through Srinagar and Wular Lake, cuts through the Pir Panjal at Baramulla into Pakistan-occupied territory and Pakistan, and joins the Chenab at Trimmu. It is one of the three western rivers allotted to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty.
John Rawls Ethics
An American political philosopher (1921–2002) whose book "A Theory of Justice" (1971) proposed "justice as fairness", deriving principles of justice from what rational people would choose behind a "veil of ignorance" about their own place in society.
John Stuart Mill and utilitarianism Lesson
Ethical theory that the right action produces the greatest happiness of the greatest number (Bentham, J. S. Mill). See the lesson: Utilitarianism: Bentham and Mill.
Joint sitting of Parliament Polity
A meeting of both Houses of Parliament together, summoned by the President under Article 108 to resolve a deadlock between them over an ordinary Bill.
Judicial activism and PIL Lesson
Courts taking an active role in governance, often through public interest litigation. See the lesson: Judicial Review, Judicial Activism and Public Interest Litigation.
Judicial review Polity
The power of the Supreme Court and High Courts to examine laws and executive actions and to strike them down if they are unconstitutional.
Justice Verma Committee Polity
A three-member committee headed by former Chief Justice J. S. Verma, set up after the December 2012 Delhi gang rape, which reported in 29 days with sweeping proposals on sexual offences, policing and gender justice; many became part of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013.
Juvenile Justice Act Polity
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which deals with children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection, aiming at rehabilitation rather than punishment, and which allows 16–18-year-olds accused of heinous offences to be tried as adults after assessment.
JVP Committee Polity
The Congress committee of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya, set up in December 1948, which advised in April 1949 against immediate reorganisation of states on linguistic lines, citing national unity and security, while leaving room for change where demand was strong and agreed.
Jyotirao Phule History
Jyotirao Phule (1827–1890) was a social reformer from Maharashtra who fought caste discrimination and Brahminical dominance, opened schools for girls and lower castes with his wife Savitribai Phule, and founded the Satyashodhak Samaj in 1873.

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Karakoram Geography
The Karakoram is a high mountain range north of the Great Himalaya in the Ladakh region and adjoining areas, home to K2, the world's second-highest peak, and to some of the largest glaciers outside the polar regions, including the Siachen.
Kautilya Lesson
Mauryan-era thinker credited with the Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft. See the lesson: Kautilya and Tiruvalluvar: Ethics of Statecraft.
Kaveri Geography
A peninsular river that rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri hills of Kodagu, Karnataka, flows south-east across the Mysuru plateau and Tamil Nadu, and enters the Bay of Bengal through a large, fertile delta, often called the Ganga of the South.
Kelkar Committees Economy
A series of expert committees led by economist Vijay Kelkar on tax reform (2002), fiscal policy and GST (2004), fiscal consolidation (2012) and public–private partnerships in infrastructure (2015), whose ideas shaped many later reforms.
Khilafat Movement Lesson
Movement in 1919–24 in support of the Ottoman Caliph, allied with Non-Cooperation. See the lesson: Gandhi's Arrival, Rowlatt Satyagraha, Jallianwala Bagh and the Non-Cooperation–Khilafat Movement.
Kothari Commission Polity
The national Education Commission of 1964–66, chaired by D. S. Kothari, whose report "Education and National Development" proposed a common school system, the 10+2+3 structure and public spending of 6% of national income on education, and led to the National Policy on Education of 1968.
Krishna (river) Geography
The Krishna is the second-longest east-flowing river of peninsular India, about 1,400 km long, rising near Mahabaleshwar in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra and crossing Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh before entering the Bay of Bengal through a fertile delta.
Kushanas Lesson
Central Asian dynasty that ruled north-west India in the 1st–3rd centuries CE; Kanishka was its best-known ruler. See the lesson: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas, Satavahanas, Indo-Greeks, Shakas and Kushanas.
Kyoto Protocol Environment
An international treaty under the UNFCCC, adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997, that set legally binding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for industrialised countries and created market-based mechanisms such as emissions trading and the Clean Development Mechanism.

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Labour codes Economy
The four labour codes (the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020) consolidate 29 central labour laws into four, aiming to simplify compliance, extend protections to more workers and make labour markets more flexible.
Lakshadweep Geography
India's smallest Union Territory, a group of 36 coral islands, atolls and reefs in the Arabian Sea off the Kerala coast, of which about ten are inhabited; Kavaratti is the capital and Minicoy, the southernmost island, lies across the Nine Degree Channel.
Land reforms Lesson
Measures to redistribute land and secure tenants' rights: zamindari abolition, tenancy reform and ceilings. See the lesson: Land Reforms, Planning and Economic Nation-Building.
Landslides Lesson
Downslope movement of rock, soil or debris under gravity. See the lesson: Geophysical Hazards and Industrial Disasters: Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Landslides and Chemical Accidents.
LARR Act Polity
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, which replaced the colonial Land Acquisition Act of 1894 with higher compensation, consent requirements, social impact assessment and rehabilitation duties.
Law Commission of India Polity
A non-statutory expert body set up by the Government of India, usually for three years at a time, to review laws and recommend legal reform; it has produced nearly three hundred reports since 1955.
Left-Wing Extremism Lesson
Maoist armed insurgency affecting parts of central and eastern India. See the lesson: Left-Wing Extremism: Origins, Spread and the Government Response.
Line of Actual Control IR
The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the de facto line separating areas controlled by India and China along their disputed border. It is not agreed or marked on the ground, which leads to differing perceptions and periodic face-offs.
Linguistic reorganisation of states Lesson
Redrawing of state boundaries on linguistic lines, notably under the States Reorganisation Act 1956. See the lesson: Linguistic Reorganisation of States.
Lok Sabha Polity
The House of the People, the directly elected lower house of Parliament (Article 81), to which the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible; it has a normal term of five years.
Lokpal Lesson
Anti-corruption ombudsman for the Union under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013. See the lesson: Lokpal and Lokayuktas, the CVC and the CBI.
Lord Curzon History
Lord Curzon was Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905, known for the partition of Bengal in 1905, a series of centralising administrative reforms, the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act of 1904 and a forward policy on India's frontiers.
Lord Dalhousie History
Lord Dalhousie was Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856, known for aggressive annexations through war and the Doctrine of Lapse, and for introducing railways, the telegraph and a modern postal system.
Lucknow Pact IR
The Lucknow Pact of December 1916 was an agreement between the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League on a joint scheme of constitutional reforms. It reunited the Moderates and Extremists in the Congress and, for the first time, saw the Congress accept separate electorates for Muslims.

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Mahajanapadas History
The Mahajanapadas were the sixteen large states of north India in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, listed in Buddhist texts such as the Anguttara Nikaya, which ranged from monarchies like Magadha and Kosala to republics (gana-sanghas) like the Vajji confederacy.
Mahanadi Geography
A major east-flowing peninsular river, about 850 km long, that rises near Sihawa in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh, flows through the Chhattisgarh plain and Odisha, is dammed at Hirakud and builds a large delta near Cuttack before entering the Bay of Bengal.
Mahatma Gandhi Lesson
Leader of India's freedom struggle (1869–1948) whose method of satyagraha combined truth and non-violence. See the lesson: Mahatma Gandhi: Truth, Non-violence and Trusteeship.
Make in India Schemes
Make in India is a national initiative launched on 25 September 2014 to turn India into a global manufacturing hub by attracting investment, encouraging innovation, building infrastructure and improving the ease of doing business, with the mascot of a lion made of gears.
Mandal Commission Polity
The Second Backward Classes Commission, chaired by B. P. Mandal, set up in 1979 under Article 340; its recommendation of 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes in central government jobs was implemented in 1990.
Mangroves Lesson
Salt-tolerant trees and shrubs of tropical coastal intertidal zones. See the lesson: Forests, Wetlands, Mangroves and Coral Reefs.
Mansabdari system Lesson
Mughal ranking system that fixed officials' status, pay and troops (zat and sawar). See the lesson: Mughal Administration, Mansabdari, Land Revenue and Economy.
Mars Orbiter Mission Science & Technology
India's first interplanetary mission, launched by ISRO in November 2013 and placed in orbit around Mars in September 2014, making India the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit and the first country to do so on its maiden attempt.
Maternity Benefit Act Society
A 1961 law that guarantees paid maternity leave and related protections to women employees in factories, mines, plantations, shops and other establishments, extended in 2017 to 26 weeks of leave and creche facilities.
Mauryas Lesson
Dynasty founded by Chandragupta Maurya (c. 321 BCE); India's first large empire. See the lesson: Mauryas, Post-Mauryan Kingdoms and the Guptas.
Mediation Act, 2023 Polity
The 2023 law that creates a framework for institutional mediation in India, including voluntary pre-litigation mediation, enforceable mediated settlement agreements, online and community mediation, and a Mediation Council of India to regulate mediators and mediation service providers.
Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 Polity
The rights-based 2017 law that guarantees every person access to mental healthcare funded or provided by the government, allows advance directives and nominated representatives, regulates admissions to mental health establishments, and effectively decriminalises attempted suicide.
MGNREGA Economy
A 2005 law that gives every rural household a legal right to at least 100 days of unskilled manual wage work a year on public works, with an unemployment allowance if work is not provided within 15 days of demand.
Mihir Shah Committee Polity
The 2016 committee chaired by former Planning Commission member Mihir Shah that recommended merging the Central Water Commission and Central Ground Water Board into a multidisciplinary National Water Commission, and shifting India's water policy from building dams to managing demand, groundwater and river basins.
Minimum Support Price Lesson
Price at which the government buys certain crops, recommended by the CACP. See the lesson: MSP, Procurement, Buffer Stocks and the PDS.
Mizo Accord IR
The Mizo Accord was signed on 30 June 1986 between the Government of India, the Mizo National Front (MNF) led by Laldenga, and the Mizoram government. It ended two decades of insurgency and led to Mizoram becoming a full state in 1987; it is often called India's most successful peace accord.
Moderates and Extremists Lesson
The two early Congress groups: constitutional Moderates and assertive Extremists (split at Surat, 1907). See the lesson: Partition of Bengal, Swadeshi Movement and the Extremists (1905–1918).
Monetary Policy Committee Economy
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a six-member statutory body of the Reserve Bank of India, created in 2016 under an amended RBI Act, that sets the policy repo rate to achieve the inflation target of 4% CPI inflation, within a band of 2% to 6%, while keeping growth in mind.
Money Bill Polity
A Bill that deals only with matters listed in Article 110, such as taxes, borrowing and spending from the Consolidated Fund; it can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha, and the Rajya Sabha can only make recommendations within 14 days.
Money laundering Lesson
Disguising the illegal origin of money; punishable under the PMLA 2002. See the lesson: Cyber Security, Money Laundering and Border Management.
Monsoon Lesson
Seasonal reversal of winds that brings most of India's rainfall between June and September. See the lesson: The Indian Monsoon: Mechanism, Seasons and Variability.
Moral courage Ethics
The willingness to act on one's ethical convictions despite the risk of criticism, loss of position, social rejection or other personal cost, as distinct from physical courage in the face of bodily danger.
MSMEs Lesson
Micro, small and medium enterprises, classified by investment and turnover. See the lesson: MSMEs, Startups and Disinvestment.
Mughals History
The Mughals were a dynasty of Central Asian origin, founded in India by Babur after the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, that ruled most of the subcontinent at its height and lasted, in name, until 1857.
Multidimensional Poverty Index Economy
A measure of poverty that counts how many people are deprived in several basic aspects of life at once, such as health, education and living standards, and how severe those deprivations are, instead of relying only on income or consumption.

N

N. K. Singh Committee Polity
The 2016–17 committee chaired by N. K. Singh to review the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, which recommended making public debt the main fiscal anchor, with a combined Centre–state debt target of 60% of GDP by 2023, and proposed an independent Fiscal Council.
NABARD Economy
India's apex development bank for agriculture and the rural economy, set up on 12 July 1982 by an Act of Parliament on the recommendation of the CRAFICARD committee, which refinances rural lenders, funds rural infrastructure, supervises cooperative and regional rural banks and promotes self-help groups.
Narmada Geography
A west-flowing peninsular river about 1,312 km long that rises at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, flows through a rift valley between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges, and enters the Arabian Sea through a broad estuary near Bharuch in Gujarat.
Nathu La Geography
Nathu La is a high mountain pass, about 4,310 m above sea level, on the border between Sikkim in India and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, linking Gangtok with the Chumbi valley and used for border trade and the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
National Commission for Women Polity
A statutory body set up in 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act 1990 to safeguard women's rights, review laws, inquire into complaints and advise the government on policy affecting women.
National Food Security Act Society
A 2013 law that gives a legal right to subsidised food grains to up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population, and provides nutritional support to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children.
National Green Hydrogen Mission Economy
A national programme approved in January 2023 with an initial outlay of ₹19,744 crore to make India a global hub for producing, using and exporting green hydrogen, made by splitting water with renewable electricity, with a target of at least 5 million tonnes of production capacity a year by 2030.
National Green Tribunal Environment
A specialised quasi-judicial body set up in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act to decide civil cases involving substantial questions relating to the environment quickly, with powers to order relief, compensation and restoration.
National Human Rights Commission Lesson
Statutory body under the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993. See the lesson: National and State Human Rights Commissions.
National parks and wildlife sanctuaries Environment
Two categories of protected area notified under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: national parks, where human rights and activities are almost fully excluded, and wildlife sanctuaries, where some regulated rights and activities may continue.
National Rural Livelihood Mission Schemes
The National Rural Livelihood Mission (now Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–NRLM), launched in 2011 by the Ministry of Rural Development, organises poor rural women into self-help groups (SHGs) and their federations to give them access to savings, credit, skills and markets, with the aim of lifting households out of poverty.
Neighbourhood First Policy IR
Neighbourhood First is India's policy, launched in 2014, of giving priority to relations with its immediate neighbours through connectivity, trade, development assistance, security cooperation and people-to-people ties, with India acting as a first responder in crises.
Net zero Environment
A state in which the greenhouse gases a country, company or the world emits are balanced by an equal amount removed from the atmosphere, so that net additions to the atmosphere are zero.
NIA Act, 2008 Polity
The 2008 law, passed after the Mumbai terror attacks, that created the National Investigation Agency as a central counter-terrorism investigation body able to investigate and prosecute scheduled offences anywhere in India without state consent, with special courts for trial; it was expanded in 2019.
NITI Aayog Governance
The Government of India's apex policy think tank, set up on 1 January 2015 by a Union Cabinet resolution to replace the Planning Commission, with a focus on cooperative and competitive federalism, strategic policy advice and monitoring rather than allocating funds.
Nolan Committee Ethics
The Committee on Standards in Public Life, set up in the United Kingdom in 1994 under Lord Nolan, whose first report in 1995 set out the "Seven Principles of Public Life": selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
Non-Aligned Movement IR
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of developing countries that chose not to formally align with either the United States-led or the Soviet-led bloc during the Cold War; founded at the Belgrade summit of 1961, it now has 120 member states and is the largest grouping of states after the United Nations.
Non-Cooperation Movement History
The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) was the first nationwide mass movement led by Gandhi, combined with the Khilafat agitation, in which Indians were asked to withdraw cooperation from British institutions; it was called off after the Chauri Chaura violence in February 1922.
Non-performing assets Lesson
Loans on which interest or principal has been overdue for more than 90 days. See the lesson: Banking Structure, NPAs, Bank Reforms and the Insolvency Code.
NPT and CTBT IR
The NPT (1968) and the CTBT (1996) are the two main global treaties on nuclear weapons. The NPT limits nuclear weapons to five recognised states and promotes disarmament and peaceful use; the CTBT bans all nuclear test explosions but has not entered into force. India has signed neither, calling them discriminatory.
Nuclear energy Science & Technology
Energy released from the nuclei of atoms, mainly through fission of uranium or plutonium in reactors, which India uses to generate low-carbon electricity under a three-stage programme aimed at using its large thorium reserves.
Nuclear Suppliers Group IR
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a group of 48 nuclear supplier countries that coordinate national export controls on nuclear materials, equipment and technology to prevent their use for nuclear weapons; it was formed in 1974 in response to India's first nuclear test.

O

Objectivity Lesson
Deciding on merit and evidence, free from personal bias. See the lesson: Integrity, Impartiality, Non-partisanship and Objectivity.
Ocean currents Lesson
Large-scale movements of seawater driven by winds, temperature and salinity. See the lesson: Atmosphere, Winds and Ocean Currents.
Official Languages Act, 1963 Polity
The 1963 law that allowed English to continue alongside Hindi for official purposes of the Union and Parliament after 1965, amended in 1967 to make that continuation effectively indefinite until all non-Hindi states agree to end it.
Official Secrets Act, 1923 Polity
The colonial-era law of 1923 that punishes spying and the wrongful communication of secret official information, covering prohibited places, codes, documents and information whose disclosure may harm the sovereignty, security or foreign relations of India.
Open Market Sale Scheme Schemes
The Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic), or OMSS(D), is a mechanism through which the Food Corporation of India sells surplus wheat and rice from central pool stocks in the open market, mainly through e-auctions to traders, flour mills and processors at predetermined reserve prices, to increase supply, cool prices and manage excess stocks.
Ozone depletion Environment
The thinning of the ozone layer in the stratosphere, mainly caused by man-made chlorine and bromine compounds such as CFCs and halons, which allows more harmful ultraviolet-B radiation to reach the Earth's surface.

P

Palk Strait Geography
The Palk Strait is the narrow, shallow stretch of sea between Tamil Nadu in India and the Jaffna peninsula of northern Sri Lanka, linking the Bay of Bengal with Palk Bay and, through the chain of shoals called Adam's Bridge, with the Gulf of Mannar.
Pallavas History
The Pallavas were a dynasty that ruled northern Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra from their capital at Kanchipuram, mainly from the sixth to the ninth century CE, and pioneered Dravidian temple architecture at Mamallapuram and Kanchi.
Panchayati Raj Lesson
Three-tier rural local self-government given constitutional status by the 73rd Amendment (1992), Part IX. See the lesson: Panchayati Raj and the 73rd Amendment.
Panchsheel IR
Panchsheel refers to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, first written into the India–China Agreement on Trade and Intercourse with the Tibet Region, signed on 29 April 1954. They became a guiding idea of Nehru's foreign policy and of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Paris Agreement Environment
A legally binding international climate treaty adopted at COP21 in Paris in December 2015, under which all countries set their own nationally determined contributions to limit global warming to well below 2°C, and pursue efforts towards 1.5°C.
Parliament Lesson
The Union legislature: the President, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha (Article 79). See the lesson: Parliament (module).
Parliamentary Privileges Polity
The special rights and immunities enjoyed by each House of Parliament and state legislature, their committees and members, so they can function without obstruction, including freedom of speech in the House and the power to punish for breach of privilege and contempt; they rest mainly on Articles 105 and 194 and remain largely uncodified.
Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi Lesson
Lord Curzon's 1905 partition of Bengal and the boycott-based Swadeshi movement against it. See the lesson: Partition of Bengal, Swadeshi Movement and the Extremists (1905–1918).
Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 Polity
The 2007 law that makes the Reserve Bank of India the regulator and supervisor of payment systems in India, requiring all payment system operators to obtain RBI authorisation, and giving legal finality to settlements and netting.
PCPNDT Act Polity
The 1994 law, renamed and strengthened in 2003, that bans sex selection before or after conception, regulates diagnostic techniques like ultrasound, and prohibits disclosure of the sex of the foetus.
Permanent Settlement History
The land-revenue system introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793 in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, which made zamindars the owners of land and fixed the revenue they owed the East India Company in perpetuity.
Persuasion Lesson
Changing attitudes or behaviour through communication rather than force. See the lesson: Moral and Political Attitudes, Social Influence and Persuasion.
PESA Act Lesson
The Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996, extending Part IX to Fifth Schedule areas. See the lesson: PESA, Local Finances and the Working of Grassroots Democracy.
Pitt's India Act, 1784 History
Pitt's India Act of 1784, passed under Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, created a Board of Control in London to supervise the East India Company's political, military and revenue affairs, setting up a system of "dual control" between the Company and the British government that lasted until 1858.
Planning Commission Governance
An extra-constitutional, non-statutory body set up by a Union Cabinet resolution in March 1950 to formulate India's Five-Year Plans and allocate plan resources; it was replaced by NITI Aayog on 1 January 2015.
Plastic waste Environment
Discarded plastic products and packaging that persist in the environment for decades or centuries, breaking down into microplastics and polluting land, rivers, oceans, air and food chains.
Plate tectonics Geography
The theory that Earth's rigid outer shell, the lithosphere, is broken into large and small plates that move slowly over the softer asthenosphere, and that their interactions at boundaries build mountains, open oceans and cause most earthquakes and volcanoes.
Plato Lesson
Greek philosopher (c. 428–348 BCE) who wrote the Republic and the theory of the philosopher-king. See the lesson: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle: Virtue Ethics.
PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana Schemes
PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) began in April 2020 as a pandemic relief measure giving 5 kg of free food grains per person per month to NFSA beneficiaries, over and above their regular entitlement. Since January 2023 it has been merged with the NFSA so that the regular entitlement itself is free, and it has been extended for five years from January 2024.
PM Gati Shakti Schemes
PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, launched on 13 October 2021, is a digital platform and planning framework that brings together 16 (now more) ministries, including railways and roadways, so that infrastructure projects are planned and executed in an integrated way, reducing delays and logistics costs.
PM-KISAN Economy
A central scheme launched in February 2019 that pays ₹6,000 a year to landholding farmer families in three equal instalments of ₹2,000, transferred directly into their bank accounts, as income support for farm inputs and household needs.
PMLA Security
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, India's main law to prevent and punish the conversion of crime proceeds into legitimate-looking assets, enforced by the Enforcement Directorate with powers to attach property and arrest.
POCSO Act Polity
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, a gender-neutral law that defines sexual offences against anyone under 18, sets child-friendly procedures for reporting and trial, and prescribes strict punishment.
Police Act, 1861 Polity
The colonial law passed after the Revolt of 1857 that created the structure of state police forces still used in much of India, placing the police under the control of the executive and the district magistrate, and which reformers and the Supreme Court have urged states to replace.
Poona Pact History
The Poona Pact was an agreement signed on 24 September 1932 at Yerwada jail, Poona, between B. R. Ambedkar and leaders of the Congress and caste Hindus on behalf of Gandhi, which replaced separate electorates for the depressed classes under the Communal Award with reserved seats in joint electorates.
Population and demography Society
The study of the size, structure, distribution and change of human populations through births, deaths and migration, central to planning for India, now the world's most populous country.
POSH Act Polity
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, which requires workplaces to prevent sexual harassment and set up committees to hear complaints, building on the Supreme Court's Vishaka guidelines of 1997.
POSHAN Abhiyaan Schemes
POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment), launched in March 2018, is India's flagship mission to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anaemia and low birth weight among children, adolescent girls and pregnant and lactating women through convergence, technology and community mobilisation.
Poverty Lesson
Deprivation of the income and basic needs required for a minimum standard of living. See the lesson: Poverty and Developmental Issues.
PPVFR Act, 2001 Polity
The 2001 law that protects new plant varieties developed by breeders while uniquely recognising farmers as cultivators, conservers and breeders, giving them the right to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed (but not branded seed), and setting up the PPV&FR Authority.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Economy
The Union government's flagship housing programme, launched in 2015 for towns (PMAY-Urban) and in 2016 for villages (PMAY-Gramin), which gives financial help to poor and lower-income families to build, buy or upgrade a pucca house with basic amenities, usually in the name of a woman of the household.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana Economy
A national financial inclusion mission launched on 28 August 2014 that aims to give every household a basic bank account, along with a RuPay debit card, accident insurance cover and access to an overdraft, so that the poor can save, receive government payments and use formal credit.
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana Economy
A centrally sponsored maternity benefit scheme that pays cash directly into the bank accounts of pregnant women and lactating mothers, Rs 5,000 for the first child and Rs 6,000 for a second child if it is a girl, to make up partly for lost wages and to encourage health-seeking behaviour.
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana Economy
A scheme launched on 8 April 2015 that gives collateral-free loans to non-farm micro and small enterprises through banks, NBFCs and microfinance institutions, in categories called Shishu, Kishore, Tarun and Tarun Plus, with refinance from MUDRA Ltd, a subsidiary of SIDBI.
Preamble Lesson
Introductory statement of the Constitution setting out its source, objectives and values. See the lesson: The Preamble: Text, Keywords and Judicial Interpretation.
President Lesson
Head of the Indian State (Article 52), elected indirectly by an electoral college; acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers. See the lesson: Powers of the President: Veto, Ordinance and Pardon.
Pressure groups Lesson
Organised groups that try to influence policy without contesting elections. See the lesson: Pressure Groups, NGOs and Civil Society in Governance.
Priority sector lending Economy
Priority sector lending (PSL) is an RBI requirement that banks direct a minimum share of their credit to sectors considered important for development but underserved by markets, such as agriculture, micro and small enterprises, education, housing, renewable energy and weaker sections. For domestic commercial banks the overall target is 40% of adjusted net bank credit.
Probity Lesson
Uprightness and honesty in public life beyond the bare minimum of the law. See the lesson: Concept of Public Service and the Philosophical Basis of Governance and Probity.
Production Linked Incentive Scheme Economy
A set of central schemes launched from 2020 that pay manufacturers a cash incentive, usually a percentage of the additional sales they make in India over a base year, to attract large-scale production in chosen sectors.
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 Polity
The 2006 law that replaced the Sarda Act, making child marriages voidable at the option of the child, punishing those who perform or promote them, and creating Child Marriage Prohibition Officers; a girl below 18 and a boy below 21 count as children for marriage.
Project Tiger Environment
A centrally sponsored conservation programme launched by India on 1 April 1973 to save the Bengal tiger and its habitat through a network of notified tiger reserves, now overseen by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 Polity
The 1993 law that set up the National Human Rights Commission, State Human Rights Commissions and Human Rights Courts to inquire into violations of human rights by public servants, recommend relief, and promote awareness, in line with the UN Paris Principles.
Public Accounts Committee Polity
A parliamentary financial committee of 22 members that examines the government's accounts and the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General to check whether public money was spent as Parliament intended.
Public Liability Insurance Act Environment
A 1991 law requiring owners of units handling hazardous substances to take insurance so that victims of accidents receive immediate relief on a no-fault basis, without having to prove negligence.
Punchhi Commission Polity
The second commission on Centre–state relations, chaired by former Chief Justice M. M. Punchhi, set up in 2007; its 2010 report made over 270 recommendations on Governors, emergency powers, fiscal relations and cooperative federalism.
Purvanchal hills Geography
The Purvanchal, or Eastern Hills, are the southward-bending extension of the Himalaya along India's border with Myanmar, made up of the Patkai Bum, Naga Hills, Manipur Hills and Mizo (Lushai) Hills, formed mainly of folded sedimentary rocks and covered with dense forest.

Q

Quad IR
The Quad, or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is a diplomatic partnership of Australia, India, Japan and the United States that works for a "free, open and inclusive" Indo-Pacific through cooperation on maritime security, health, critical technologies, infrastructure, climate and disaster response.
Quantum technology Lesson
Technologies based on quantum effects; India runs a National Quantum Mission. See the lesson: IT, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum, Semiconductors and IPR.
Quit India Movement History
The Quit India Movement, launched on 8 August 1942 at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee, demanded an immediate end to British rule; Gandhi's call to "Do or Die" was followed by mass arrests and a largely leaderless popular uprising.

R

Rabindranath Tagore History
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was a Bengali poet, novelist, composer, painter and educator who became the first non-European Nobel laureate in Literature in 1913 and wrote the national anthems of India and Bangladesh.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy History
Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833) was a Bengali scholar and reformer who founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, campaigned against sati, which was banned in 1829, and argued for rational religion, modern education, a free press and the rights of women.
Rajya Sabha Polity
The Council of States, the upper house of Parliament (Article 80), a permanent body representing the states and Union Territories, chaired by the Vice-President of India.
Ramakrishna Mission History
The Ramakrishna Mission is a spiritual and philanthropic organisation founded by Swami Vivekananda on 1 May 1897 in Calcutta, in the name of his teacher Sri Ramakrishna, which combines Vedantic teaching with service in education, health and disaster relief; its headquarters is at Belur Math near Kolkata.
Ramsar Convention Environment
An intergovernmental treaty signed at Ramsar, Iran, on 2 February 1971 for the conservation and "wise use" of wetlands; India joined in 1982 and had 103 Ramsar sites by October 2026.
Rangarajan Committee Polity
Most often, the 2012–14 expert group under former RBI Governor C. Rangarajan that revised India's poverty line, estimating 29.5% of the population as poor in 2011–12; the name also refers to his earlier committees on balance of payments, sugar decontrol and other economic reforms.
Rann of Kutch Geography
A vast seasonal salt marsh in Gujarat, divided into the Great Rann in the north and the Little Rann in the south-east, which floods with seawater and river water during the monsoon and dries into a flat, white salt desert for the rest of the year.
Rashtrakutas History
The Rashtrakutas were a dynasty that ruled large parts of the Deccan from about the mid-eighth to the late tenth century CE, from their capital at Manyakheta, and are remembered for the Kailasa temple at Ellora and their role in the "tripartite struggle" for Kannauj.
Rashtriya Gokul Mission Economy
A central scheme of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, started in 2014, to develop and conserve indigenous cattle and buffalo breeds and to raise milk productivity through better genetics, mainly by expanding artificial insemination, sex-sorted semen and embryo technology.
Refugee Convention IR
The 1951 Refugee Convention, with its 1967 Protocol, is the main international treaty defining who is a refugee, the rights they hold and the obligations of states, especially the principle of non-refoulement. India is not a party to either, and handles refugees through general laws and policy decisions.
Regionalism Society
A sense of loyalty and identity attached to a particular region, based on language, culture, history or economic interests, which can strengthen democracy through regional voice or strain national unity when it turns exclusive or separatist.
Regulating Act, 1773 History
The Regulating Act of 1773 was the first law passed by the British Parliament to regulate the East India Company's affairs in India; it made the Governor of Bengal the Governor-General of Bengal, created a council of four, set up a Supreme Court at Calcutta and brought the Company under parliamentary oversight.
Renewable energy Environment
Energy from sources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, flowing water, biomass, geothermal heat and the tides, as opposed to finite fossil fuels.
Repo Rate Economy
The interest rate at which the RBI lends money to banks for short periods against government securities, under a repurchase agreement; it is the main policy rate in India, signalling the stance of monetary policy and anchoring short-term market interest rates.
Representation of the People Act Polity
Two laws passed in 1950 and 1951 that, together, govern India's elections: the 1950 Act deals with seats and electoral rolls, and the 1951 Act with the conduct of elections, qualifications and disqualifications, corrupt practices and election disputes.
Reservation Society
India's system of affirmative action that sets aside a share of seats in legislatures, government jobs and educational institutions for historically disadvantaged groups such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and economically weaker sections.
Reserve Bank of India Economy
India's central bank, set up on 1 April 1935 under the RBI Act 1934 and nationalised in 1949, which runs monetary policy, issues currency, regulates banks and payment systems and manages foreign exchange.
Revolt of 1857 Lesson
The widespread uprising against Company rule that began at Meerut in May 1857. See the lesson: British Expansion, the Revolt of 1857 and Social Reform.
Right to Education Act Lesson
The 2009 Act giving children aged 6–14 a right to free and compulsory education (Article 21A). See the lesson: Education: NEP 2020, RTE, Higher Education and Skills.
Right to Education Act, 2009 Polity
The 2009 law that puts Article 21A into effect, guaranteeing every child aged 6 to 14 free and compulsory elementary education in a neighbourhood school, with norms for schools and teachers and a 25% quota for disadvantaged children in private schools.
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act Lesson
Law of 2016 recognising 21 disabilities and rights to equality and accessibility. See the lesson: Persons with Disabilities, Elderly, Minorities, Transgender Persons and Unorganised Workers.
Rowlatt Act History
A repressive law passed by the British Indian government in March 1919 that allowed detention without trial in political cases; protests against it became Gandhi's first all-India satyagraha and led to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
RTI Act Governance
A law enacted in 2005 that gives every citizen the right to request information from public authorities, which must reply within set time limits, subject to specified exemptions.
Rule of law Polity
The principle that everyone, including the government, is subject to known and fairly applied laws, and that power must be exercised according to law rather than at will.
Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems History
The Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems were land-revenue settlements of British India: under Ryotwari, revenue was fixed directly with individual cultivators (ryots), mainly in Madras and Bombay; under Mahalwari, it was fixed with village communities or estates (mahals), mainly in the North-Western Provinces, Punjab and parts of central India.

S

SAARC IR
SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, is an organisation of eight South Asian countries founded in Dhaka in 1985 to promote economic and social cooperation. It has been largely inactive since 2016, when its summit in Islamabad was called off after the Uri attack.
Sachar Committee Polity
The seven-member high-level committee chaired by Justice Rajinder Sachar, set up in 2005, whose 2006 report documented the social, economic and educational backwardness of Indian Muslims and recommended mechanisms such as an Equal Opportunity Commission and a diversity index.
Sagarmala and Bharatmala Schemes
Sagarmala is a programme launched in 2015 to promote port-led development by modernising ports, improving port connectivity, building coastal economic zones and developing coastal communities. Bharatmala Pariyojana, approved in 2017, is a programme to build and upgrade national highways, including economic corridors, border and coastal roads and expressways, to improve road freight efficiency.
Samudragupta History
Samudragupta (ruled c. 335–375 CE) was the second great ruler of the Gupta dynasty, known from the Allahabad (Prayag) pillar inscription composed by his court poet Harisena for his wide military campaigns across north and south India, and for his patronage of learning and music.
Santhanam Committee Governance
The Committee on Prevention of Corruption (1962–64), chaired by K. Santhanam, whose report led to the creation of the Central Vigilance Commission and shaped India's early anti-corruption framework.
Sarda Act History
The Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, named after its mover Harbilas Sarda, which fixed the minimum age of marriage at 14 for girls and 18 for boys across all communities in British India, and was later amended to 18 and 21 before being replaced in 2006.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel History
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950) was a Congress leader from Gujarat who organised peasant satyagrahas, served as India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, and led the integration of the princely states into the Indian Union.
Sarkaria Commission Polity
The first major commission on Centre–state relations, set up in 1983 under Justice R. S. Sarkaria; its 1988 report favoured a strong Union with cooperative federalism and recommended limits on Article 356 and a permanent Inter-State Council.
Satavahanas Lesson
Deccan dynasty (c. 1st century BCE – 3rd century CE) known for land grants and trade. See the lesson: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas, Satavahanas, Indo-Greeks, Shakas and Kushanas.
Satyagraha History
Satyagraha, literally "holding firmly to truth", is the method of non-violent resistance developed by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in South Africa and later used in India's freedom struggle, in which the resister accepts suffering to change the opponent's heart.
SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Polity
A 1989 law that defines offences committed against members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by non-members, prescribes stricter punishment, and sets up special courts and relief to prevent caste-based violence and humiliation.
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Lesson
Communities notified under Articles 341 and 342 for special constitutional protection. See the lesson: Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes: Laws, Institutions and Schemes.
SCO Lesson
Eurasian security and economic grouping; India became a full member in 2017. See the lesson: India, Central Asia and Eurasian Groupings: SCO and BRICS.
SEBI Lesson
Statutory regulator of securities markets (SEBI Act 1992). See the lesson: Capital Markets, Money Markets and SEBI.
Second Administrative Reforms Commission Governance
A commission set up by the Government of India in 2005 to suggest a blueprint for reforming public administration; its 15 reports, on topics from ethics to e-governance, remain a standard reference for governance reform.
Secularism Polity
The principle that the state has no official religion, treats all faiths with equal respect and does not discriminate on the basis of religion; in India it allows the state to engage with religion to promote equality and reform.
Self-Help Groups Lesson
Small groups, mostly of women, that pool savings and access credit together. See the lesson: Self-Help Groups, Development Processes and the Role of Civil Services.
Semiconductors Science & Technology
Materials such as silicon whose electrical conductivity lies between conductors and insulators, used to make chips that power phones, computers, cars and defence systems; India is building a chip industry through the India Semiconductor Mission.
Separation of powers Polity
The principle that the powers of government should be divided among the legislature, executive and judiciary so that no single organ becomes all-powerful; in India it exists in a flexible form with checks and balances.
Seventh Schedule Polity
The schedule of the Constitution that divides law-making subjects between Parliament and the state legislatures through three lists (Union, State and Concurrent), read with Article 246.
Shah Commission Polity
A commission of inquiry set up in 1977 under former Chief Justice J. C. Shah to investigate abuses of authority during the Emergency of 1975–77, including mass detentions, censorship, forced sterilisation and demolitions.
Shanta Kumar Committee Polity
The 2014–15 High Level Committee chaired by Shanta Kumar on restructuring the Food Corporation of India, which recommended reducing coverage under the National Food Security Act to about 40% of the population, shifting to cash transfers, and handing procurement to states that were already efficient.
Shipki La Geography
Shipki La is a mountain pass on the India–China border in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, through which the Sutlej river enters India from Tibet, and one of the designated points for India–China border trade.
Shivaji Lesson
Founder of the Maratha state (crowned 1674), known for his administration and guerrilla tactics. See the lesson: The Marathas: Shivaji, Administration and the Peshwas.
Shiwaliks Geography
The Shiwaliks are the outermost and youngest range of the Himalaya, a low belt of hills about 600 to 1,500 m high formed from river sediments eroded from the rising mountains, stretching from the Indus to the Brahmaputra along the northern edge of the plains.
Siachen Geography
The Siachen Glacier, about 76 km long, lies in the eastern Karakoram of Ladakh and is one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions; India has held it and the Saltoro Ridge since Operation Meghdoot in 1984, making it the world's highest battlefield.
Simon Commission History
The Simon Commission, formally the Indian Statutory Commission, was a seven-member British parliamentary body under Sir John Simon, appointed in November 1927 to review the working of the 1919 reforms; because it had no Indian member, it was boycotted across India with the slogan "Simon Go Back".
Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks Economy
Two kinds of "differentiated" bank licensed by the RBI since 2015 to widen financial inclusion: small finance banks take deposits and lend mainly to small borrowers, while payments banks take small deposits and offer payments and remittance services but cannot lend.
Smart Cities Mission Economy
An urban renewal programme launched in June 2015 that selected 100 cities through a national competition and funded area-based redevelopment and city-wide technology projects, run through special purpose vehicles, to make cities more liveable, efficient and sustainable.
Social audit Governance
A process in which the people affected by a government programme, together with independent facilitators, examine its records and outcomes in public, verify what was actually delivered, and hold officials accountable.
Socrates Ethics
An Athenian philosopher (c. 470–399 BCE), known through the writings of his students, especially Plato, who taught by questioning, held that "the unexamined life is not worth living", and accepted death rather than abandon his principles.
Soils of India Lesson
India's main soil groups: alluvial, black, red and yellow, laterite, arid and mountain soils. See the lesson: Soils of India: Types, Degradation and Conservation.
Speaker of the Lok Sabha Polity
The presiding officer of the Lok Sabha, elected by its members (Article 93), who conducts proceedings, decides disqualification under the anti-defection law, and certifies Money Bills.
Stand-Up India Schemes
Stand-Up India, launched in April 2016, facilitates bank loans of between 10 lakh and 1 crore rupees to at least one Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch for setting up greenfield enterprises in manufacturing, services, trading or allied agricultural activities.
Strait of Hormuz Geography
The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow sea passage between Iran to the north and the Musandam peninsula of Oman to the south, linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and one of the world's most important routes for oil and gas exports.
Strait of Malacca Geography
A narrow sea lane between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra that links the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea; one of the world's busiest shipping chokepoints, close to India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Strategic autonomy IR
Strategic autonomy is the principle that a country should keep the freedom to make its own foreign and security policy choices according to its national interest, without being bound to any single power or bloc; in India it is seen as the successor to non-alignment and is often practised today as "multi-alignment" with many partners.
Street Vendors Act, 2014 Polity
The 2014 law that protects the livelihood of urban street vendors by requiring surveys, vending certificates and Town Vending Committees with vendor representation, regulating eviction and relocation, and setting up a grievance redressal system.
Subsidiary Alliance History
The Subsidiary Alliance was a system, used most systematically by Lord Wellesley (Governor-General 1798–1805), under which Indian rulers accepted British troops in their territory at their own cost and gave up control of their foreign relations to the East India Company.
Sufism Lesson
Mystical tradition in Islam; in India organised into silsilas such as the Chishti order. See the lesson: Bhakti and Sufi Movements: Saints, Ideas and Impact.
Sundarbans Geography
The largest contiguous mangrove forest in the world, spread across the seaward edge of the Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna delta in West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh, known for its tidal creeks, the Royal Bengal tiger living in a saltwater habitat and its role as a natural shield against cyclones.
Supreme Court Lesson
India's apex court under Articles 124–147; guardian of the Constitution and final court of appeal. See the lesson: The Supreme Court: Composition, Appointment and Jurisdiction.
Sustainable Development Goals Environment
A set of 17 global goals and 169 targets adopted by all UN member states in 2015 as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, covering poverty, health, education, equality, environment, peace and partnerships.
Sutlej Geography
The easternmost and longest of the five rivers of the Punjab, an antecedent river that rises near Lake Rakshastal in Tibet, enters India at Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh, flows through Punjab and joins the Chenab in Pakistan to form the Panjnad before reaching the Indus.
Swachh Bharat Mission Economy
A national sanitation campaign launched on 2 October 2014 to end open defecation and improve solid waste management, run in two parts: SBM-Gramin for villages under the Jal Shakti ministry and SBM-Urban for towns under the Housing and Urban Affairs ministry.
Swami Vivekananda History
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) was a Hindu monk and disciple of Sri Ramakrishna who introduced Vedanta to Western audiences at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago and founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897.
Swaminathan Commission Economy
The National Commission on Farmers (2004–06), chaired by agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan, which recommended that minimum support prices be set at least 50% above the comprehensive cost of production, along with wide reforms for farmers' welfare.
Swaran Singh Committee Polity
A committee set up by the Congress party in 1976, during the Emergency, under Sardar Swaran Singh to recommend constitutional changes; many of its proposals, including Fundamental Duties, were enacted through the 42nd Amendment.

T

Tapi Geography
A west-flowing peninsular river, about 724 km long, that rises near Multai in the Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, flows through a rift trough south of the Satpura range across Maharashtra and Gujarat, and enters the Arabian Sea near Surat through an estuary.
Teesta Geography
The Teesta is a Himalayan river, about 400 km long, that rises in the glaciers and lakes of north Sikkim, flows through Sikkim and the Darjeeling–Jalpaiguri region of West Bengal and then into Bangladesh, where it joins the Brahmaputra (Jamuna). It is central to India–Bangladesh water relations and to Himalayan disaster risk.
Telecommunications Act, 2023 Polity
The 2023 law that replaced the colonial Indian Telegraph Act of 1885 and related laws, creating an authorisation regime for telecom services, administrative allocation of satellite spectrum, powers of interception and suspension, and user protection measures.
Temple architecture Lesson
Indian temple styles: Nagara (north), Dravida (south) and the mixed Vesara style. See the lesson: Hindu Temple Architecture: Nagara, Dravida and Vesara.
Ten Degree Channel Geography
The Ten Degree Channel is the sea passage, roughly 150 km wide, that separates the Andaman Islands from the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, named after the 10° North line of latitude that runs through it.
Thar Desert Geography
A large sandy, arid region in north-western India and eastern Pakistan, lying mostly in western Rajasthan, bounded by the Aravalli hills to the east and the Indus plains to the west, with low and highly variable rainfall, shifting sand dunes and one of the most densely populated deserts in the world.
Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act Polity
A 2019 law that recognises the right of transgender persons to a self-perceived gender identity, bans discrimination against them in education, work, health and services, and sets up a National Council for Transgender Persons.
Transparency Lesson
Openness of government decisions and information to public scrutiny. See the lesson: Transparency and Accountability.
Treaty of Allahabad IR
The Treaty of Allahabad (August 1765) followed the Battle of Buxar. Through it, Mughal emperor Shah Alam II granted the East India Company the Diwani (right to collect revenue) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh made peace with the Company. It marked the Company's change from a trading body into a territorial power.
Treaty of Versailles IR
The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, was the main peace treaty that ended the First World War between the Allied powers and Germany. It imposed territorial losses, military limits and reparations on Germany, created the League of Nations and is widely seen as contributing to the conditions that led to the Second World War.
Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 Polity
The 2021 law that abolished several appellate tribunals, transferring their work to High Courts and other bodies, and fixed common rules for search-cum-selection committees, tenure and age of tribunal members, provisions that the Supreme Court later found to violate judicial independence.
Tropic of Cancer Geography
The Tropic of Cancer is the line of latitude at about 23.4° North, the northernmost point where the Sun can be directly overhead at noon, which it is on the June solstice; in India it passes through eight states and roughly divides the country into tropical and subtropical halves.
Tsunami Lesson
Series of large sea waves caused mainly by undersea earthquakes. See the lesson: Earthquakes and Tsunamis.

U

UAPA Security
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, India's main anti-terror law, which allows the government to ban unlawful and terrorist organisations, designate individuals as terrorists and prosecute terror and secessionist offences.
Ujjwala Schemes
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), launched in 2016, gives free LPG connections to women from poor households to replace polluting cooking fuels such as firewood, dung and crop residue, with the aim of improving health, saving time and empowering women.
UN Security Council IR
The UN Security Council (UNSC) is the principal organ of the United Nations responsible for international peace and security; it has 15 members, five permanent members with veto power (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.
Unemployment Lesson
The state of people who are willing and able to work but cannot find a job. See the lesson: Employment, Unemployment and Labour Reforms.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites Culture
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are cultural, natural or mixed places judged to have "outstanding universal value" and placed on the World Heritage List under the 1972 World Heritage Convention.
UNFCCC and COP Lesson
The 1992 UN climate treaty whose parties meet annually at the Conference of the Parties (COP). See the lesson: Global Climate Negotiations: UNFCCC, Kyoto, Paris and Climate Finance.
Unified Payments Interface Economy
A real-time, mobile-first payment system built and run by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that lets anyone move money between bank accounts instantly using a virtual address, a phone number or a QR code.
Upanishads History
The Upanishads are philosophical texts that form the concluding layer of the Vedic literature, exploring the relationship between the individual self (atman) and ultimate reality (brahman); they are the foundation of the Vedanta schools of Indian thought.
UPSC (the Commission) Polity
The constitutional body under Articles 315 to 323 that conducts examinations for recruitment to the All India and central services, and advises the government on recruitment methods, promotions, transfers and disciplinary matters relating to civil servants.
Urban local bodies Lesson
Municipal bodies given constitutional status by the 74th Amendment (1992), Part IXA. See the lesson: Urban Local Bodies and the 74th Amendment.
Urbanisation Society
The increase in the share of a country's population living in towns and cities, driven by natural growth, migration from villages and the reclassification of rural areas as urban, along with the economic and social changes that come with it.

V

Vaccines and immunity Science
Immunity is the body's ability to resist infection; vaccines are biological preparations that safely train the immune system to recognise a pathogen, so that it can respond quickly if exposed later.
Vedas Lesson
The oldest Indian sacred texts (Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva), composed in Vedic Sanskrit. See the lesson: The Vedic Age: Early and Later Vedic Society, Economy and Religion.
Vernacular Press Act, 1878 History
The 1878 law passed under Viceroy Lord Lytton that allowed the government to censor and punish Indian-language newspapers for printing material deemed seditious, while exempting the English-language press; it was repealed by Lord Ripon in 1881.
Vice-President Lesson
Second-highest office (Article 63); ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. See the lesson: The Vice-President and the Attorney General of India.
Vijayanagara Empire Lesson
South Indian empire founded in 1336 by Harihara and Bukka; capital Hampi. See the lesson: Vijayanagara and Bahmani Kingdoms of the Deccan.
Vindhya and Satpura ranges Geography
Two roughly east–west hill ranges of central India. The Vindhyas lie north of the Narmada valley and the Satpuras lie between the Narmada and the Tapi. Together they form a traditional divide between north and south India.

W

Warsaw Pact IR
The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance of the Soviet Union and seven Eastern European communist states, formed on 14 May 1955 in response to West Germany joining NATO. It was the Soviet bloc's counterpart to NATO during the Cold War and was dissolved on 1 July 1991.
Western Disturbances Geography
Extra-tropical low-pressure systems that originate over the Mediterranean region and travel east with the subtropical westerly jet stream, bringing winter rain and snow to north-west India and the western Himalaya, and occasionally severe storms and floods in other seasons.
Western Ghats Geography
The chain of hills along India's western coast, about 1,600 km from the Tapi valley to near Kanyakumari, which forms the western edge of the Deccan Plateau and is a global biodiversity hotspot and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Wetlands Environment
Land that is saturated or covered by shallow water for long enough to develop waterlogged soils and plants adapted to wet conditions, such as marshes, swamps, peatlands, floodplains, lagoons and mangroves.
Whistle-blowing Ethics
The act of a person inside an organisation disclosing information about wrongdoing, such as corruption, fraud, danger to public health or abuse of power, to authorities or the public, usually at personal risk.
Wildlife Protection Act 1972 Environment
The central law that protects wild animals, birds and plants in India, regulates hunting and trade in wildlife, and provides for protected areas such as national parks, sanctuaries, conservation reserves and community reserves.
Women's empowerment Society
The process by which women gain the resources, agency and voice to make strategic choices about their own lives, and to take part as equals in the economy, politics and society.
World Bank IR
The World Bank is an international financial institution, created at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, that provides loans, grants and advice to developing countries for projects and reforms aimed at reducing poverty and promoting growth; it is part of the wider World Bank Group headquartered in Washington, D.C.
World Trade Organization IR
The international organisation, set up on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, that administers global trade rules, hosts trade negotiations and settles trade disputes among its members; India is a founding member.

Y

Yamuna Geography
The largest tributary of the Ganga, about 1,376 km long, which rises at the Yamunotri glacier in Uttarakhand, flows past Delhi, Mathura and Agra, and joins the Ganga at the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj.

Z

Zonal Councils Polity
Five statutory regional councils created under the States Reorganisation Act 1956 to promote cooperation among neighbouring states and Union Territories; each is chaired by the Union Home Minister.